Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari
by MisakiShishido
Summary: A reprised edition of Persona 3 FES featuring Yukari Takeba as the main character instead of Aigis. Will she be able to go through 'The Journey' to find 'The Answer? Find out inside!
1. Act 1

Summary: This is a reprise version of Persona 3 FES: The Answer / Episode Aegis. Instead of Aigis, the main character of the story has been changed to Yukari Takeba, one of the members of SEES who wants to move forward and forget about the past. Well… enjoy!

P.S.: This is especially for those who want Yukari to inherit 'his' powers instead of Aigis, so… well anyway, anyone can read it! But surely… you all might have question marks on your heads… trust me…

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 1: The Promise

"Now let me ask you this… what if… 'he' died… but I was the one who had heard his last words and also… inherited 'his' 'powers' instead of Aigis…? Well… let's just say… it actually happened. This is the beginning of 'my' story. And I, Yukari Takeba, am the main character of it. This is fully taken… from my perspective."

At a cram school sometime before the 'incident'…

March 31st, 2010, 1:30p.m. …

Yukari was having her lunch break at the cram school…

"_sigh… break time again…" _said Yukari with a sad expression on her face.

ring…

"_Hmm?"_

The ring tone 'Burn My Dread' was played when Yukari's cellphone rang. She quickly took her cellphone out of her pocket and looked at it. Fuuka Yamagishi's name appeared on the screen.

beep.

"_Hello?"_

"_Ah, Yukari-chan! It's me… um, are you coming today…?" _asked Fuuka.

"_Oh, uh… didn't you see the message I left you on the board? I have cram school today…" _said Yukari with a sigh after her sentence.

"I know… but…"

"_I left all the stuff at the dorm, so I don't have to be there in person, right?" _she added before Fuuka could continue her sentence.

"_I suppose not, but… are you okay with that?" _Fuuka continue asking.

"_Yeah… I'm gonna pass. Oh, sorry… break's almost over. I gotta go. Tell everyone I said hi, okay?"_

Yukari hung up. After setting her cellphone to silent mode and putting it back into her pocket, her cram school classmate, Tazusa Sakurano, walks over to her seat. Yukari looked at Tazusa and tried her very best to smile.

"_Hey Yukari! What's with the long face? It's supposed to be a happy and lucky day today, you know?" _said Tazusa while smiling.

"_Ah… yes… happy and lucky… h-haha…" _said Yukari while looking away from Tazusa.

"_Man… what's the matter with you…? You've been out of it lately…"_

"_N-Nothing's wrong… I just… nevermind…"_

"_Oh come on! Tell…"_

bring…!

The bell rang right before Tazusa could finish her sentence which saved Yukari. Then classes began again as usual but Yukari doses off during class…

"_yawn… Minato… kun…" _said Yukari while putting her head onto the book she put on top of her desk.

After a few minutes… At an unknown place which seemed like Minato's room, it was completely dark. Yukari was sitting on a chair beside his bed, and tears were about to flow right out from both her eyes…

"_Minato… kun… you're not… going… to… right…?" _said Yukari who was in tears.

"…"

"_Please… wake up… d-don't leave me… please…"_

Yukari was given the silent treatment from Minato but it was truly logical. He was already in a coma but Yukari and Aigis were the only ones to use the time they had to take special afternoon and night shifts. Yukari took care of the night shifts… not knowing it was the last shift that she'll ever take.

Yukari then took his left hand and held it with both of her hands tightly…

"_Please… I beg you… wake up… for me… please…" _said Yukari while crying.

"… _Yukari… san…" _

There was a reply from Minato, but he replied with an extremely weak tone of voice and slowly opened his eyes to look at her. Was it a miracle? He woke up from his comatose state…

"_gasp! Y-You're… awake… you're okay… right Minato-kun…?!" _said Yukari while crying but was trying to smile.

"… _I'm… fine… Yukari… can you promise me… something… before I… go…?" _he said with his right hand reaching for her left cheek.

"_B-Before you go…?! D-Don't say that…! P-Please…!" _Yukari continued crying.

"_P-Promise me… that you'll stop… mankind from wishing for… the return… of Nyx…" _Minato slowly closed his eyes.

"_M-Minato-kun… I… no… come on… stay awake…!" _

"_Come on… let me see you smile… before I go… I… trust you…" _he said while putting his hand down and closed his eyes completely.

"_No… Minato-kun… wake up… please… s-see…? I'm… smiling…! I know that… you're just… playing around right…? Please! Wake up…!!" _Yukari smiled for a brief duration and went back to crying.

"……"

There finally wasn't a response or a voice coming out from his mouth. The hand which Yukari was still clinging onto became as cold as ice. It started raining, so Yukari used that as a reason for his hand to be so cold… but even so, Yukari knew it all too well… that he had already passed away.

"… _I… I was… the only one who… truly heard… his final wishes… not Aigis… so I will… do whatever it takes… to fulfill it… I'll… I'll do it for you, Minato-kun…!" _she said while sobbing and held on to his cold hand tightly.

Back to reality, she woke up in tears when the teacher called her name and the student shook her around to wake her up.

"_Yukari Takeba. Are you alright? You were somewhat… mourning… in your sleep. Was it a bad dream? Or were you dreaming about me giving you very low conduct marks?"_

The students in class started laughing after hearing what the teacher had said to Yukari. They also saw the blur expression that Yukari had on her face when she just woke up. That made them laugh even more. She quickly wiped her tears, stood up and then stared at the teacher with sleepy eyes.

"_I-I'm so sorry, sir. I guess I really… had a nightmare…" _said Yukari with a smile on her face.

"_Hmm. You really are an odd one, Takeba-san. Still smiling after a nightmare, hmm? sigh… I'll let you off the chain this time, but the next time, your conduct marks will be heavily deducted by me. Understood, Takeba-san?" _the teacher shook his head but weird enough, with a smile on his face.

"_Thank you sir… and… I guess I have to admit… but I'm truly an odd person."_

After approximately an hour and a half, it was already the end of school. Many of Yukari's classmates and schoolmates, even a few boys from her so-called 'fan club' asked her to go out with them, but she turned them all down and said…

"_Sorry guys. I… sorta have stuff to do back at the… Iwatodai Dormitory… I'll go out with you guys some other time… alright…?"_

When Yukari said that, she had a sad expression on her face. She really didn't want to go back, but her heart made her want to go back. Could it be because of the dream? Or because of her own desires to go back? No one could understand her closed heart that was once opened…

She strolled around the Port Island district for some time before returning back to the Iwatodai district. And she arrived at Iwatodai late at night. Once she has reached her destination, that is when… 'it' will happen……

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Author's notes:

Here it is! The first act of the story! So… how was it? Too much dialogue right? Too short right? I ADMIT IT… well… it's also due to the fact that I followed the game script to do this story. Act 2 will be posted once I'm done polishing and typing it into the computer, so till then, please wait! Thanks for reading Act 1!!


	2. Act 2

Finally… here's Act 2 for those who like my story & want more of it…

P.S.: I used a little script-based stuff for the fighting scene, so please don't get mad at me for it… and for those who're still clueless, this is Yukari's version of P3 FES… NOT Aigis/ Aegis' version… hope you'll understand! ;

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 2: The Incident

"_This ordeal... it may be that we brought it upon ourselves. The fact that a future exists, and being able to access it are very different things. We did not understand such an obvious and natural principal yet. That's right, we understood very little. We knew nothing about using the key to open the path to the future…"_

It was already late at night. Yukari had just arrived in front of the dormitory. She was standing outside, looking at the building that she had lived in and remembered about the things that happened during her stay there. She had even remembered that she was one of the SEES and that they saved the world by eliminating 'Nyx', the 'Queen of Shadows'… but there… was a casualty among them. The field leader was gone…

"… _Perhaps I should show my face to everyone tomorrow morning… it's almost midnight after all…"_

But little does she know, when she stepped into the dormitory, they were still there. Then, it turned midnight…

"_Ah! You guys are still—ugh… w-what the…?!" _said Yukari when she felt something.

"_Oh hi Yu-- ?! What was that…?!" _said Ken while greeting Yukari.

"_Woof! Rarf!" _barked Koromaru.

"_Y-Yukari… you're here…" _said Mitsuru with a smile.

"_W-What just happened? I just stepped into the dorm and…" _asked Yukari.

"_Midnight… it can't be—is it the Dark Hour again?!" _Fuuka added before Yukari could continue.

"_Nah… everything's fine out there! Oh! Hey Yuka-tan!" _Junpei looked out of the window and then looked at Yukari.

"_Um… hey… you guys haven't answered…"_

"_Wait… the news…!" _Aigis added before Yukari could say anything.

Yukari had no choice but to sit down and watch the news with the others without her question answered. Everyone sat down quietly and listened to the news report.

"_Good evening. It is now March 31st. Here's a recap of the news from the 30th..." _And the newscaster continued on and on.

"_The 31st was yesterday, right…? Did the anchor misread the date?" _asked Aigis with a concerned voice.

"_Sheesh… is that all? Even they make mistakes every once in a while. It's nothing," _said Junpei followed by a laugh.

"_Weird… my cell says it's the 31st too…"_ said Ken as he stared at the date in his phone.

"_Well, looks like a false alarm."_

"_So far, I'd agree," _said Mitsuru with a smile.

"_But… something… isn't quite right though…" _said Yukari while looking at Fuuka.

"_I agree with Yukari-san… something felt… off…" _said Fuuka in agreement with Yukari.

"_yawn It's late… we should call it a night. What a lame finish to our last day in the dorm… sigh" _Junpei complained.

"_Um… would it be alright if I returned to my room? I have to prepare to move tomorrow…" asked Aigis._

"_Me too. I have to do my last checking in my room to see if I'd left anything important there, so… good night!" _said Yukari with a tired voice.

"_Sure. Good night, Aigis. Yukari-chan, you too." _Said Fuuka with a smile.

"_Niiiiight…" _said Junpei with a yawn.

The both of them leaves and Mitsuru pulls out her cellphone to contact Akihiko. The 'day' 'ended' just like that…

An hour later, in Yukari's room…

She was in her room, resting on her bed in her pink pajamas. She was rolling around and around on her bed, unable to sleep… after a while, she stopped and looked at the ceiling. She tried her very best to close her eyes but thought to herself instead…

"_When I close my eyes… I remember the last moment I spent with him… the day he suddenly awaken for a brief duration… I also remembered on that day, we brought him back to our dorm… fear beginning to well up within us. And that same night, he made 'a promise' with me… and I… promised him that I'd fulfill that promise. The next morning, he… officially passed away. For some time after that, I fell into depression and started going to cram school to suppress my feelings. Night after night, I began seeing the same dream over and over again… a dream where I run after him, calling his name… but can never catch up."_

Yukari stopped for a while and rolled to the right, facing her bedroom door. Then, she continued thinking to herself…

"_Well… to be honest… when he was alive… I had feelings for him. I loved him and even confessed it to him… but… I don't really know… if he has returned my feelings towards him though… up till this day. I even thought of a future with him… so… I wanted to do anything for him… I want to protect him, just like what Aigis did. But now, he's gone… Then… on one fateful day… my sadness suddenly left me, as if a prison door had swung open. And that was when, I stopped dreaming about the dream I had night after night…"_

Then, Yukari got up and looked around her room. She took her pillow and hugged it tightly.

"_Man… it's no use. I can't sleep… can I really continue living like this…?" _said Yukari with an extremely tired voice.

All of a sudden, a shining blue butterfly appears in her room. She was bewildered by it.

"_What…? A… butterfly…? In my room at this hour…?"_

The butterfly then landed onto her hand and vanishes straight away. The floor suddenly rumbles right after that made Yukari get off her bed.

"_Whoa! What in the world's going on…?!"_

She immediately took her Gekkoukan High School uniform and changed into it. Then, she took her pink sweater along with her SEES armband that she had kept with for so long. After a while, she thought of her 'evoker' that was already taken back by Mitsuru.

Knock! Knock!

"_Yukari-chan! Are you awake?!"_

It was Fuuka. She sounded as if she was in a panic.

"_Uh, yeah! T-The door's open!" _shouted Yukari while putting on her sweater and slipping on the armband.

Fuuka then ran in, her face with a panicked expression.

"_Yukari-chan, we need you!"_

"_H-Huh?!"_

"_It's hard to describe… the lobby floor opened up, and—anyway, we need to hurry to the lounge!" _exclaimed the panicked Fuuka.

"_A-Alright!"_

They ran out of Yukari's room. Fuuka ran upstairs to the meeting hall to get something and asked Yukari to go downstairs to the lounge. Yukari starts narrating…

"_Come to think of it, the day my dreams stopped… that must've been the day when the 'incident' actually began."_

At the lounge…

"_Huh? What's this?!"_

Mitsuru, Aigis, Ken, Junpei and Koromaru were on the ground, in front of someone with a blue and white armor and wearing a sapphire mask.

(Author's note: Um… about the armor… she's wearing Meister Natsuki Kruger's Meister Robe from Mai- Otome and for the mask, it's just like Metis' only that it's blue…)

"_G-Guys…!"_

"_Keep your guard up, Yukari!" _warned Mitsuru.

"……" the intruder turned to Yukari and stared at her.

"_A 'shadow'…? No… a machine? Or… are you even human…?"_

"_You're… Yukari…?" _the intruder suddenly spoke.

"_Yeah… so…?"_

Suddenly, Fuuka arrived with a suitcase that was filled with their 'evokers' and looked at Yukari.

"_Sorry I'm late! Is everyone okay?!" _asked the panicked Fuuka.

"_Yes… for now. I need you to provide backup for Yukari. Give her the 'evoker' as well," _Mitsuru said with a calm voice.

"_All right." _Fuuka handed an 'evoker' to Yukari.

"_Who are you? Why are you doing this…?" _Yukari asked the intruder.

"_I'm Hikari. I've come to protect you," _the intruder said with a happy voice.

"_Protect me…?"_

"_These people pose a threat to you. That is why… they will be eliminated."_

"_What nonsense are you babbling about?! I won't allow you to hurt them!" _Yukari pointed the 'evoker' at Hikari even though she knew that it doesn't shoot bullets.

"_Then I have no choice… for you sake… I'll have to force you to back down."_

A battle began between Yukari and the mysterious intruder, Hikari but this time, Yukari's only weapon… was the 'evoker' that can be used to summon her 'persona', Isis.

Hikari: _You must stand aside._

Yukari: _N-No way! Isis!! (_used Garu skill)

Hikari: _Don't resist and I won't hurt you…! _(started backing down, used strike attack by her staff)

Yukari: _Oh…? Starting to… back down…? _(used Garu skill again)

Hikari: _Argh… _(counters the Garu attack)

Yukari: _Tch… I… will not lose! _(used Dia skill)

Hikari: _Please… don't resist… _(feeling weaker and weaker)

Yukari: _Then this will be the final attack! Isis! _(used Garu skill with no hesitation)

Hikari: _Ugh…_

Hikari was successfully defeated by Yukari, but all she had was a scratch on her armor. All of Yukari's Garu attacks did not inflict much damage. Suddenly…

"_Hmph. Much stronger than expected. I have no choice."_

Hikari's gloved hands and mask were glowing with a bright blue light. Then, she charged towards Ken and grabbed his neck. She then lifted him up to the air.

"_Ken-kun!" _shouted Fuuka.

"_No way!" _shouted Junpei.

"_Ah, ah…!" _shouted Ken who was in pain.

"_Amada!" _exclaimed Mitsuru with a worried tone of voice.

"_Bark! Bark! Bark!"_

"_My body…" _said Yukari while feeling a pulse of power flowing through her body.

"_Hindrances will be removed… at once," _said Hikari while strangling Ken with her bright and shining blue-gloved hands.

"_Stop it! He isn't involved in this! I won't let you hurt him!!" _shouted Yukari while shooting herself with the 'evoker' to summon her 'persona'.

"_What's this…?" _Hikari let go of Ken and looked at Yukari's persona.

"_Don't tell me… Y-Yukari…" _Mitsuru was shocked.

"_Whoa! What the…?! Y-Yuka-tan?!"_

"_That… is…" _Aigis was shocked as well.

"_Is that… Yukari's… no…"_

Isis went through a barrier and turned into Orpheus. That made everyone speechless and shocked. Odd enough, Yukari was grinning. After Orpheus had knocked Hikari away from Ken, Yukari fell unconscious and fell onto the floor. Mitsuru immediately went towards her and put Yukari in her arms.

"_Takeba…! Get up! Hey!"_

She fell unconscious but in actual reality… she had entered another place. A place… where 'he' used to go… The Velvet Room.

* * *

Author's notes:

phew… here's Act 2! Act 3 is all about her time in The Velvet Room, so it'll be really short… seriously… anyway, just leave a review so that I can get advice or encouragement for chapters to come. So, I really hope you guys can continue reading and cheer me on! Thanks!!


	3. Act 3

Yukari: Wow… I'm the main character now…? I feel so honoured…

Yukari senpai: O… K… Well… here's Act 3! Enjoy!

Yukari: Yeah! Enjoy!

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 3: The Velvet Room

Yukari had awakened to a new power… 'his' power. Her Persona, Isis, had been metamorphosed into Orpheus.

She was in the Velvet Room, a place where looked like a lift, asleep on a chair while holding tightly onto her 'evoker'. When she woke up, she saw two figures. A man with a long nose accompanied by a woman.

"_I… what happened…?" _asked Yukari while she looked around.

"_Welcome to the Velvet Room. Ah… a very rare guest indeed…a young teenager who has a strong ability in healing… interesting…" _said the man with a long nose.

""_Um… where am I…? Who are you…?"_

""_Ah… forgive my manners. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Igor… and this is Elizabeth, my assistant. We reside in this Velvet Room."_

"_Pleased to meet you," the woman said._

"_V-Velvet Room…?"_

"_Yes… this place exists between mind and matter… a room for those who gave forged a contract… yes… in awakening to the power of the wild card, you are now bound to a contract. From this moment forth, you are our guest in the Velvet Room," _explained Igor followed by a smile.

"_W-What? W-Wild card?" _asked the clueless Yukari.

"_Surely you know of which I speak. The ability to hold multiple Personas and wield their powers… until recently, a young man with the same talent was our guest here," _said Igor.

Yukari knew all too well who that young man was. He was the man she wanted to bring back to life and the man she loved so much. She was shocked to hear about him from a person she just met.

"_You… know of him?" _asked Yukari with a soft tone of voice.

"_Indeed I do. He achieved a marvellous thing… reaching the 'answer to life'… but you… I'm sure that you wish to know… 'the answer to his death' instead of going through a journey in search of 'life', yes?"_

"_I… that's…"_

She always wanted to know why he had passed away one day after his coma. Hearing what Igor said made her remember of her true goals. She wanted to find… the 'answer to his death'.

"_The power you have gained is a means to obtain that answer."_

"_This answer… if I reach it… would I end up like the previous guest here? Will I… face my own death…?" _asked Yukari while trembling.

"_All who live journey in search of the answer, and they reach it at the journey's end…"_

"……"

"_If you have close ties to people you call friends, remember this… 'Strength of heart, when united, is barred by no door…' It was the same for that young man. And that is all I can tell you," _said Igor with a smile.

"_U-Understood… sir…"_

"_Well, I shouldn't keep you here any longer. The beginning of your ordeal awaits…"_

Suddenly, Yukari felt something strange. It was the same feeling she had when she stepped into the dormitory. She then put the 'evoker' she had with her into the holder she had.

"……_?! That feeling again…!"_

"_I am certain you will require our help in the future. Please take this."_

Igor gave Yukari the Velvet Key… the same key that Minato used in the past.

"_It would be best if you came here of your own free will nest time. Until then, farewell…"_

Yukari was then warped out of The Velvet Room. She starts narrating…

"_After the loss of Minato-kun, I made a decision to myself that I want to find the reason of his death. I would do anything to get to that answer, even if it means eliminating my friends to get to it… so much has happened to me. If this power is a sign that tells me I'm turning back to the past and not moving on… does it mean the answer at the end of the journey is… death? I was surprised at the time, to discover how little the possibility bothered me…"_

In the end, Yukari knew that she had no choice but to continue fighting. She had signed the contract that allows her to begin 'The Journey' to find 'The Answer'. What will happen in time to come? Will she finally know why he fell into a coma and passed away the next morning? The answer shall be revealed through her journey to find it…

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Author's notes:

OK! Here's Act 3! I'm finally done with it… it's shorter than the front 2 Acts though… Well, I hoped you enjoyed it and Act 4 will be posted as soon as possible! Till then, please post some reviews for the story so far! Thanks!


	4. Act 4

Thanks for the R & R s up till now, everyone! I was really happy when I saw the stats of my story… (Hey, I'm just 13! I get easily touched! XD)… Well anyway, here's Act 4 to keep you busy! Enjoy!

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 4: A Rude Awakening

Everyone was gathered at the lounge as Yukari wakes up.

"…… _Yukari-san…" _said Aigis with a concerned voice.

"_Nngh…" _Yukari slowly opened her eyes.

"_Woof! Woof!"_

"_Yukari-chan!" _exclaimed Fuuka.

"_I…" _Yukari rubbed her eyes.

"_phew, she woke up. You really scared us, Yuka-tan, for collapsing like that," _said Junpei while smiling.

"_Aigis…" _said Yukari while seeing Aigis going near her.

"_Are you alright? You look tired… and also… about just now…"_

"_I'm truly sorry for scaring you all like that! And also… what's with this armour? I look like some kind of fantasy hero…" _addedYukari before Aigis could continue and Yukari stared at her newly equipped clothes.

(Author's note: What she's actually wearing is Mai Tokiha's Meister Robe from Mai- Otome… go check it out!)

"_Well… I put that on you… sorry Yukari… I did it without informing you or anything…" _said Mitsuru while looking away and blushing.

"_I… I understand… a-anyway… why an armour instead of just normal clothing…?" _asked Yukari.

"_Hmph! Ask Ms. Bossy! She'll explain," _said Junpei with an angry voice.

"_That strange girl said, "If you want to protect Yukari, you should put that on her."" _said Fuuka.

Hikari was sitting on a chair that was guarded by Ken and Akihiko. They had to stand by just in case she was going to attack everyone again.

"_Yo Takeba. Looks like you've been through a lot the minute you got back, huh? No worries here, though… she's been on her best behaviour now," _said Akihiko while smiling at Yukari.

"……" Hikari did not say anything.

"_I guess she wasn't lying after all. Anyway, she can't cause any trouble now. We all have our 'evokers' this time," _said Ken with a serious look on his face.

"_Man! Why do you gotta bust things up like that for? I mean, today's my turn to clean the place! Hey! Quit with the silent treatment and say something," _complained the impatient Junpei.

In actual reality, Hikari was snoozing and wasn't listening to Junpei at all. After a few minutes, she woke up.

"_Mm… huh…?"_

"_Are you serious…? You were sleeping all this time?!" _said Junpei angrily.

_Suddenly, she lifts her mask up and opened her eyes slowly. Everyone was shocked to see her face. She looked like a teenager around Yukari's age. It's just that she was wearing armour._

(Author's note: Her face looks exactly like Aurica Nestmile's from the Ar Tonelico series and hair too. But her eyes are following the P3 concept of drawing it… ;)

"… _It opened!" _said Yukari.

"_I-I…"_

"_You look pretty comfy in there… "I ain't afraid of all of you," huh?" _said Junpei followed by a glare at Hikari.

"_N-No! It's just that… I got tired after using the powers of the "Blue Sky Sapphire Gem"…" _Hikari said while looking at Yukari with puppy dog eyes.

"_H-Hey! D-Don't look at me that way…! I'm not gonna have any sympathy for you…!" _said Yukari while looking away from Hikari.

" _Did you cooperate with us in order to help Yukari-san?" _asked Aigis.

" _The reason I came here in the first place was to protect her. These restrains aren't necessary. I won't attack you all any longer."_

"_Hmph. No one's gonna believe you if you don't explain why," _Yukari looked back at Hikari.

"… _Well… I attacked you all… because… I thought you wouldn't like me, Yukari…" _Hikari looked down to the floor.

"_L-Like you? H-Huh?"_

"_Well… it's um…" _Hikari started playing around with her fingers.

"… _Oh fine. Let's realease her. I dunno if she can be trusted, but I guess she has no intention of fighting us… for now."_

Ken and Akihiko then released the chains that tied her up. Hikari then stood up and stretched. Yukari then went near her and continued interrogating her. They both moved aside.

"_Now, for the serious stuff. Tell us who you are again and your purpose in being here," _said Yukari with a serious face.

"_Understood. My name's Hikari. Yukari and I are practically siblings. And as for my purpose… it's simply to save her, my 'long lost sister'… from this hopeless situation," _explained Hikari.

Everyone was shocked to hear that she was Yukari's 'long-lost sister'. Yukari never had mentioned about it either.

"_Wait… 'long lost sister'?! And what hopeless situation? Did something happen while I was asleep? Man… how long was I asleep anyway…?" _asked Yukari.

"_giggles… indeed, you're my 'long lost sister'… well anyway, since our battle ended, I'd say about a day and a half has passed… yet today is still March 31st."_

"… _Your point is…?" _Yukari pressed on.

"_Tomorrow, and all the days after it, will also be March 31st. At this rate, it will last forever. Didn't you feel it? The moment when time skipped?" _Hikari questioned all of them.

Everyone was at a lost of words when she told them about the never-ending March 31st… And after a while…

"_Skipped…? Do you mean what we felt at midnight? Then…" _said Yukari.

"… _Are you saying that the same day is repeating itself…?!" _continued Mitsuru from what Yukari had just said.

"_That's not all… we haven't been able to leave the dorm since this morning. That makes two days we're trapped in here," _said Akihiko while looking at Mitsuru.

"_No way… but… why is this happening…?" _asked Yukari with a worried tone of voice.

"_Hmm. Actually, the Abyss of Time below us is causing a space-time distortion," _answered Hikari.

"_The Abyss… of Time? Huh?" _asked the clueless Yukari.

"_It's difficult to explain, Yukari… but it may be easier if you can go in and see it for yourself," _said Mitsuru while looking into the hole in the dining area's floor.

"_I'll lead the way. Please follow me," _said Hikari while walking into the hole in the dining area's floor.

"_H-Hey! Who elected you mayor?!" _shouted Yukari.

All of them knew that they might have no choice but to fight again. They went down the Abyss of Time and the ordeal finally begins the minute they climbed down the stairs leading to the Abyss of Time.

This was just the beginning of another 'journey'… will they be able to live to see spring and continue living their normal lives? Or will they face… death and end 'the Journey' without 'an Answer'? The story has just begun…

* * *

Author's notes:

And I'm done! Quite short I guess… well anyway, the action finally begins! Oh right… I'll put the picture links of the clothes and maybe some of the 'special cross-over characters' used in the story so you might know how they look like. I hope you all have enjoyed Act 4! Now it's time to crack my head for ideas for Act 5 which I haven't even started writing yet. So, this might take time to be updated! Till then… please wait!


	5. Act 5

OK! Here's Act 5 for those who want more!

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 5: The Abyss of Time

In the abyss, they saw seven white doors and a plain that looked like the Sahara desert.

"_Where is this place…?" _

"_This is the Abyss of Time. It's an uncharted area that probably spreads beneath this area like a tree's roots," _explained Hikari.

"_How could something like this have appeared under the lounge? It's impossible!" _said Yukari.

"_At first, the Abyss of Time was a small thing. Then, without warning, it began to spread out, and formed a connection to your dorm," _said Hikari.

"_It's clear just by looking at it that this place was not man-made. It might be the product of some dangerous power, the way Tartarus was…" _said Mitsuru followed by a sigh.

"_Sheesh… haven't we had enough of that kinda stuff by now?" _complained Junpei.

Yukari had noticed it already. Hikari knew too much about the Abyss of Time, as if she lived here and appeared in their dorm to drag them down. Yukari did not voice it out, so Hikari continued her explanation about the Abyss.

"_I'm not sure I can explain it, but the flow of time here is not normal. The reason why time is skipping and why you can't leave the dorm is most certainly due to that effect. The only way to survive is to somehow find a way to eradicate the Abyss of Time," _explained Hikari.

"_Eradicate it? How we're supposed to do that…?" _asked Ken with a curious voice.

"_I've already tried the simplest, most direct way… eliminating all of you."_

"_Tch…" _

Yukari knew all too well where this was leading to…

"_The Abyss of Time connected to this dorm, as if drawn to it… that, together with the way you all can perceive the time skips… it seems clear to me that you have a lot to do with the reason for this happening," _said Hikari with a serious look on her face.

"_So that's why you attacked us? In order to eliminate us to eradicate the Abyss of Time?" _asked Aigis.

"_What?! We've never even heard of this place before!" _said Junpei angrily.

"_Well… if there's another way, we can find it by entering the Abyss. You'll have to discover the cause and strike at its source. That is… if you're okay with that."_

"_So you want us to investigate it under the assumption that we'll have to fight?" _asked Mitsuru.

"_That's why I insisted on the armour to protect Yukari!" _exclaimed Hikari.

"_Wait… is this a joke? Are you seriously telling us to go back to the things were when Tartarus were around?!" _exclaimed Yukari.

She was extremely mad at the idea of fighting again… even though she signed the contract to go through the journey to find the answer. She knew that she had to fight but to her, returning back to the way things were equals to remembering the times she fought alongside 'him'…

"_Nevermind that, Yuka-tan! Anyway, how are we supposed to believe whatever you say and jump in there blind?!"_

"_First, the basement of your dorm, then the time skips, and now you can't reach the outside world! If you have a better plan, let's hear it," _said Hikari with a frustrated tone of voice.

"_I-If we can't leave the dorm… how will we eat?! If we're stuck here long enough, and we run out of food… are we going to… starve to death?!" _exclaimed the worried- about- food Fuuka.

"_Noooooo!!" _yelled Junpei.

"_Man… you don't have to be so sarcastic, 'Stupei'," _said Yukari while she rolled her eyes.

"_If the current situation continues, your lives may all be in danger. What I'm asking you to do is the only way for you all to survive."_

"_Naturally, we all want to survive. But you first appeared to us as an enemy. You must understand that we can't entrust our lives to you," _said Aigis with a serious tone of voice.

"_Hmph. I'm not even buying your reason for being here. You say you want to protect Takeba, but what's in it for you?" _asked Akihiko.

" '_In it'? I'm doing this because I care about her! For heaven's sake, she's my 'long lost sister' that I sought to look for!" _exclaimed Hikari.

"_About that… your claim doesn't fit the facts. Yukari, you do not have any siblings right? We talked about our families not long ago…" _said Mitsuru.

"_Well… yeah. I don't remember having any siblings…"_

"_Nngh…" _

Hikari looked away from everyone.

"_What's more, to hear you talk, it sounds like you've been in this Abyss of Time from the start. That bothers me. You said this is uncharted territory, unconnected to the outside world. Am I correct?" _Mitsuru pressed on.

Yukari was glad that Mitsuru voiced it out. Hikari was starting to tremble as questions were being asked. Logically speaking, if one has been in one area for quite a duration of time, won't one know the area pretty well? The SEES members were getting suspicious…

"_Well? We're waiting… hope you've got a good answer. Cause if you're string us along, we're not gonna let you get away with it…" _said Junpei with a glare.

"_E-Enough! What good is any of this supposed to do you? I thought I told you, there's no time to waste! Now follow me… or are you going to give up so soon? Because if you are, you should've let me kill you in the first place!" _exclaimed Hikari.

"_What did you just say?!" _exclaimed Akihiko while cracking his fists.

"_It may be true that we have no choice but to enter here… but if you continue acting this way, we'll have to go on without you," _said Yukari.

"_Huh…? Without… me? Haha… you can't possibly… I-I know the most about the Abyss… you need me! A-And…"_

"_Hey, you don't get to decide that!" _shouted Junpei.

"… _Fighting… would put all of our lives at risk… if that's the way you think of my friends, I can't go with you," _said Yukari while looking on the ground.

"_But…" _

Hikari started to feel sad…

"_Aww, too bad. Have fun here all alone, mmmkay?" _said Junpei.

"……_! All… alone…?" _said Hikari and she started to cry.

"… _Maybe we should finish her off now, so she can't backstab us," _said Akihiko.

"_W-We don't have to go that far… I mean… look at her…" _said Fuuka.

"… _Sorry… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to upset you, Yukari… I'll listen to you from now on! I will… please don't leave me…" _said Hikari while crying.

Yukari suddenly felt that her heart had skipped a beat when she heard Hikari begging Yukari to not leave her alone… that voice… was just like the voice she used when she begged 'him' not to leave her… Yukari was mentally shocked.

"……"

All Yukari could do was stare at Hikari…

"_C'mon, it's… it's too late to get all weepy," _said Junpei.

"_But maybe it's true that all she wants really is to protect Yukari-san…" _said Ken while looking at Junpei.

"_Listen to me, everyone. It seems that once again, we will have to investigate, and there will be battle involved. I've been thinking it over… and I believe Yukari should take command."_

"_S-Sen… pai…" _said Yukari while looking at Mitsuru.

"_If someone with the power to change Personas is in charge, we can proceed the same way as before. And if you, as leader approve… I have no issues with Hikari accompanying us," _said Mitsuru.

"……"

Hikari looked at Yukari and wiped her tears.

"_Alright. I've decided. Hikari, if you wish to protect me, you must fight to protect us all. Hurting my friends will not be tolerated. Promise?" _said Yukari with a smile.

"_Y-Yes! I promise!" _

Hikari cheered up. She had become one of them in order to eradicate the Abyss of Time.

"_Um… Yukari-san? Since Mitsuru-san just mentioned it… why do you have 'his' powers…?" _asked Aigis politely.

"_I… really don't know. When I saw Ken-kun getting strangled by Hikari I… I thought we might lose another friend, and…"_

"_Hikari, do you know anything about this?" _asked Aigis before Yukari could continue.

"_I just met her. How would I know? Anyway, if you already know someone with that same power, why not just ask him?"_

"……"

Yukari and Aigis looked at each other. They both felt sad because… the both of them were heavily affected by 'his' death.

"_Well anyway, if we're going back to combat, this clothing won't do…" _Mitsuru looked at her winter outfit.

"_Well, you and me are still Gekkoukan students until that magic degree comes in the mail," _said Akihiko while looking at Mitsuru.

"_Sorry to trouble you, Yamagishi, but could you retrieve the rest of the armbands from the command room? Yukari has hers already, so there's not a need to look for hers," _said Mitsuru while looking at Yukari.

"_Of course. Oh, and the things we found when the floor opened up… I'll look into them once I have the chance. Maybe I can learn something."_

"_Alright, let's get back upstairs," _said Mitsuru with a smile.

Everyone but Yukari, Aigis and Hikari went upstairs. Fuuka went to the command room to get the SEES armbands and the rest of the group went to change back into their uniforms.

"_Um… Yukari? I promise to listen to what you say, so… could I… call you Sister…?" _asked Hikari while walking towards Yukari.

"_Well… go right ahead… Hikari," _said Yukari with a smile.

"_Thank you…! Sister! I'll be upstairs, ok?"_

"_Sure. See you later."_

Hikari ran upstairs and left Yukari alone with Aigis.

"_Well now… is there something you want to ask? Aigis?" _

Yukari turned around to face Aigis.

"_Yukari-san…"_

"_If you really want to know how I got 'his' powers… I really have no clue."_

"_I understand. But if you use it the 'wrong way'… I will do anything… to get 'his' powers from you," _said Aigis with a serious tone of voice.

"_So… are we rivals now, Aigis? _

"_Yukari-san… I'm serious about this…"_

"_I know… I was just joking about the rival thing, ok? Geez… Come on, let's just go get ready."_

"Under… stood."

The mysterious space that's appeared… the Abyss of time. Until they find the reason for its presence, they will be unable to leave the dorm. What lies beyond each and every door…?

The investigation or in other words… the 'Journey'… finally begins…

* * *

Author's notes:

And here you are everyone! Act 5! Act 6 and another new story that I'm going to make in the Megami Tensei series is on it's way… so till then, please R & R so I can improve or if there's any mistakes, just tell me. And also, what do you all expect to read in the ending? Please tell me, so I can let you read what you all expect to read!


	6. Act 6

Finally, I bring to you Act 6... Sorry for the long wait, guys... And I've changed my format. The dialogues are now all in normal fonts instead of Italic... Sorry for the formatting problem...

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 6: The First Door

A few minutes after preparing, Yukari, the new field leader, brought her team mates to the Desert of Doors. She brought Aigis, Hikari and Junpei.

At the Desert of Doors... they were quite hesitant to enter any of the doors, except for Hikari, who is calm as always.

"..." Yukari looked at Hikari, "Hey, does this armour thing have an off switch?"

"Hmm? Uh yes. Just touch your earring and it should be switched off..." said Hikari without even thinking about Yukari's safety any longer.

"Great," Yukari switched it off, "It's gonna put lots of weight onto me, so... I should switch it off. You don't mind, don't you?"

"... I-It's your decision, sis... but I think you should try summoning the sword that comes with the armour for battling now... you never know what might happen in the future. So you should start training with it," said Hikari with a smile.

Yukari nodded and put her bow and arrow on the floor and shouted "Sword!". Suddenly, a sword and a hilt appeared in mid-air. In other words, it activates right after the user shouts what he or she wants. Pretty neat for an armour with multi-functions, huh?

While they were experimenting on the armour, a black figure that looked familiar appeared in front of one of the doors. It bent down and placed something on the floor and went into the door.

Aigis went to get the thing it left behind. After she got it, she gave it to Yukari. It was a pendant with a big piece of a crystal shard located in the centre of the pendant. The others weren't in sight and it could still fit at least 6 pieces more.

"T-This is... a pendant?" said Yukari as she looked at it, "What would that black figure be doing with a pendant? The jewel in the centre's broken anyway..."

"Hmph. What I think is that that black guy wants us to chase after it, so let's get going!" exclaimed Junpei.

"Good idea. But first..." Yukari then used her transceiver, "Hey Fuuka, did you listen to our conversation and saw what we saw...?"

"... Yes. I did. B-But Yukari-chan, that black figure... it emitted some sort of strange... 'power' that made me... realize. It resembles... 'his'," Fuuka said through her persona.

Yukari just walked towards the door while everyone tagged along behind and said to Fuuka, "Fuuka, I want you to find out what that thing was... if you've gotten the results, don't hesitate to tell us. We're heading in," she said seriously.

"Understood, you can count on me. And Yukari-chan, have you... matured a bit?" asked Fuuka.

Yukari ignored what Fuuka said and went into the door. She was happy Fuuka said that because to her, it means part of her has already begun to move on.

During their time in the dungeon, Malebolge, they fought various battles and got injured quite badly. Luckily they had an all-time healer, who was Yukari whose persona still has major healing properties even though it has changed and a sub-healer who was Hikari.

After a while, they stopped exploring for a while...

"Man... I'm getting tired but at least I'm getting used to using a sword..." said Yukari with a smile.

"It's a great thing you've brought your bow and arrow holder, Yukari-san..." said Aigis.

"Um... girls? If you don't mind, I suggest we get out of here ASAP... as in... RIGHT NOW," said Junpei and pointed to the Shadows coming from behind.

"Oh great... l-let's go!!" exclaimed Yukari.

They continued running, fighting and more running again. Through their time there, they had met with the black figure and fought many 'boss Shadows'.

A while later, their hard work finally paid off when they finally reached a dead end, leading only to a gigantic door.

"Hey Hikari, we're here... right? The first door's ending point?" asked Junpei.

Hikari nodded, "Yes. This is the place."

"Finally..." Yukari went near to the door, "We're one step closer to the end..." and then she said softly to herself, "_... or maybe not..."_

"Yukari-san...? Shouldn't we be calling Fuuka-san by now?" asked Aigis while looking at Yukari.

"R-Right. Um..." she spoke through her transceiver again, "Fuuka? You may inform the others to come now... we've found a gigantic door."

"O-OK, Yukari-chan. We'll be right there."

Fuuka and the others came after a while. They all stood in front of the gigantic door.

"Hmm. So this is our first 'goal'," said Mitsuru.

"This place was bigger than I thought. How many more times do we have to continue journeying in order to get to another door?" asked Akihiko.

"Well, I don't know for sure but judging from the Desert of Doors, I'm betting it's not going to be once or twice..." said Hikari while looking at Yukari and she continued explaining, "We're looking for the source of our troubles, so logically, it should be at the deepest level.

"... _What have we done to deserve all this...?" _Yukarithought to herself.

"Then all we can do is keep going forward until the end..." said Ken.

"It's like Tartarus all over again," said Mitsuru.

"The two structures are very similar, in some ways," said Fuuka as she looked around.

"Not only that, we've got the friggin' Shadows wandering around... man... I never thought I'd have to see another one of those... but hey, the Lost are all gone, so how come they're still around?" said Junpei.

"Another question that needs an answer... though it's not like we can leave until we find out," said Akihiko while looking onto the ground.

Junpei just sighed after hearing what Akihiko had said. He actually wanted to live a normal easy-going life now, not a super hero who saves the world kind of life.

Mitsuru then looked at Yukari, giving her the "What's wrong?" look.

"... S-Senpai... sigh... after all the hard times we went through, we finally had some peace. I was really determined to keep my eyes on the future, and not look back. But now I'm being dragged back to the way things used to be!" exclaimed Yukari, holding back her tears.

"Yukari..." said Mitsuru, going near to Yukari.

"_... Sis..._" Hikari said softly, "Anyway, time doesn't flow normally in here, so it's no surprise you feel that way. You'll find there will be many opportunities to revisit your past here, sis," said Hikari with a smile.

"H-Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" asked Yukari.

Hikari then walks towards the door and opened it. Everyone was then enveloped in a bright light. They suddenly appear at Paulownia Mall and lying on the ground.

They all got up to their feet after that...

"This is... huh? Paulownia Mall? But weren't we just inside..." Before Yukari could continue, Akihiko cut in.

"What's going on? Did we make it out somehow?"

"I dunno... something seems off... isn't it kinda hot... in here?" asked Junpei.

Suddenly, Officer Kurosawa, who is the person in-charge of the SEES weaponry, came from the mall's entrance. He was on the way to the police station when he saw the group, so he went to where they were.

"You kids?"

"Kurosawa-san..." said Akihiko while looking at Kurosawa.

"What're you doing out here on a weekday? Shouldn't you be in school?" he asked while pulling his officer hat down.

"O-Oh, but it's spring break now..." Yukari voiced out.

"Spring break...? That was a couple months ago. It's June now," Kurosawa said and he noticed Aigis and Hikari standing at the back, "Hmm? What are you two doing in costumes? Is there some sort of event going on?" asked Kurosawa who was getting suspicious.

"Costumes? Actually, this is our..." before Hikari could continue, Yukari covered Hikari's mouth, "Uh... what she meant was... um..."

"... Well, I'll let it slide. I know you kids are a little different. But if you try to use that as an all-purpose excuse, I'll have to enforce the law. Don't forget," said Kurosawa while turning his back to face the police station.

And he went into the police station. The group started to wonder. Shouldn't it be March instead of June? Something truly wasn't right.

"Hmm," Mitsuru saw a calender beside the police station and looked at it, "The calender displayed here says 2009... Oh," she saw another one, "That calender as well. Could the June he mentioned be... June of last year?"

"That's impossible... Are you saying this is the past?" Akihiko looked at Hikari who, to him, wasn't paying attention, but looking at the fountain, "Hey, Takeba's sister! Are you even listening?!" he yelled.

Yukari went near to Hikari and patted her shoulder. Hikari then looked back.

"Are the things here really that interesting to you?" she asked with a wry smile.

"N-Not at all. It's all everyday stuff right?" Hikari pointed at the fountain, "This is a 'fountain', and that over there..." then she pointed at the accessories store, "... is a 'store'."

"Haha. You're really acting like a kid who hasn't been outside for a long time. Actually, I come to the fountain once in a while to calm myself down..." Yukari said, smiling.

Hikari happily enjoyed the chat with Yukari, "R-Really? Then you feel the same..."

Yukari suddenly cut in with a serious voice, "But, there's something really fishy about being here. For all of us, not just you. Tell me, what actually _is_ this place?"

Metis then began explaining again, like what she usually does and everyone paid attention. Koromaru was listening to Hikari's explanation as well.

"... We came here by passing through a door, remember? Doors like that are in several places throughout the Abyss of Time, and each one's connected to the past."

"N-No way... then... this really is last year?!" exclaimed Akihiko.

"How else can you explain the different time and season? But it seems you can't go just anywhere in the past... Only somewhere from your memories," she said as she started thinking, "This looks like a mall, but I don't think it's connected to anything important..."

"_It is important... well... to me," _thought Yukari in her mind as she looked at a bench in the mall.

"So we are back in the past...? That's really... interesting," said Aigis.

Hikari nodded, "We're kinda lucky we found this place. At least we'll be able to get supplies here and this place should stay as it is until the Abyss of Time disappears," Hikari then looked away from everyone, "The reason why the door led us here may have something to do with you. The doors reflect your inner thoughts."

Everyone was amazed at how Hikari explained everything to them. It was as if she had already memorized a script and acted it out. But no, they started believing in her.

Out of the blue, Ken spoke out, "She's taking this pretty well... It's all so bewildering to me."

"..." Aigis looked at Hikari then at Yukari.

"Well, one thing's a relief. At least we won't starve."

Yukari begins narrating...

"_... So, it was that we learned why that mysterious place was named the Abyss of Time. A place where you can revisit the past... maybe this will give me a chance... to see 'him' again. But thinking back, it wasn't only the amazing nature of the place that surprised us all. It may be that we all unconsciously saw a kind of... 'salvation'."_

Everyone then returned back through the door. But when they went through it, they arrived back at the lounge.

"No way... T-This is crazy!!" Yukari exclaimed.

"Wow... I didn't think we'd emerge directly here instead of the instead of the Desert of Doors... Looks like this place's fully connected to the Abyss of Time now. Maybe it's because everyone was hoping to make frequent resupply trips..."

"Yeah... you may be right, Hikari."

Hikari looked at Yukari with a smile, "At least it's easier to go back and forth now..."

"Helloooooo! We're kinda blocked back here!!" exclaimed Junpei through the door.

Yukari and Hikari then moved aside to allow Junpei and Aigis in. They were both shocked to see where they were.

"Huh...? Isn't this place..." Aigis said while looking around.

"Hey, hurry it up! There's more of us blocked back here!!" shouted Akihiko through the door.

Finally, they have ended exploring one door and found the means of obtaining supplies, but they are still trapped in the dorm.

Junpei was kind enough to try exiting through the mall when he was still in it, but it didn't work because there was an invisible force field, blocking the way.

What awaits everyone as they explore deeper into the labyrinth? A member of SEES's past will be exposed soon. Who will it be? Find out soon...

* * *

Author's notes:

Phew... finally this story has been updated... please continue waiting for the next act! Anyway, if possible, please R & R... thanks...


	7. Act 6 5

Well, first off, this doesn't really link to the main story... I did it just for fun. Secondly, I did not follow the game's dialogue for the first flashback. And finally, there will be a few .5 Acts throughout the story, so... I bring to you the first .5 Act!

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 6.5: Memories of the Mall

In the lounge, everyone was relaxing before going back down to the Desert of Doors for more action, so Yukari decided to go to the newly founded Paulownia Mall to relax.

At the mall, it was empty and no one was there, except for the shop keepers who had to provide them equipment. Other shops like Chagall Café and the arcades were empty and was restricted to enter.

Yukari went towards the fountain side that was facing the café.

"Heh," she sat on the side of the fountain, "You were here for me when mother called..."

Flashback...

Minato and Yukari was strolling around in the mall...

"Hey Minato-kun, which clothes brand do you think I should get? Roxy or Esprit?" asked Yukari with a slight blush on her face.

"Uh... anything's fine with me. Well... maybe because whatever you wear, you'll look extremely cute and beautiful..." he said followed by a chuckle.

"O-Oh enough with the flattery! Just tell me your..." Suddenly, Yukari's cell phone rang, "... This number..." she picked it up, "What do you want...?" and she looked away from Minato.

"_Am I disturbing you, Yukari...?" the person asked kindly._

"Stop with the courtesy already and cut to the chase! What do you want?!" she asked angrily.

"_... I just want to know... if it's okay... to get married to another guy. H-He's really who I'm looking for! He's like your father and..." _

"... So you called just to ask me that?! It's your decision if you truly want to remarry! Like I care!" Yukari exclaimed and she was holding back her tears.

"_Y-Yukari... I just want to know if you would allow me to do this..."_

"S-Shut up! It's your life, not mine... it's your decision, not mine! So just... leave me alone..."

Yukari then hung up on the person who called her and Minato went closer to her to check up on her.

"Yu... kari?"

"... That person..." she looked at Minato, "She was my... mother."

"I see..." he then put both of his hands onto Yukari's shoulders, "Yukari, you look... depressed..."

"... I'm not..." she started to have tears rolling down from her eyes, "I'm... not... that woman... I really hate her...!"

Minato immediately embraced her tightly and allowed Yukari to cry. He overheard their conversation since Yukari was yelling through the phone. He understood her pain.

"... I'm here for you, so don't cry, Yukari... I'll help you."

Flashback ends and Yukari went to the one of the bench that was near the mall's entrance and sat down.

"Memories... I made lots of heart-warming memories with you... haven't I...? Even during Christmas Eve..." Yukari looked up to the ceiling.

Another flashback, it was during Christmas Eve of the year 2009...

The couple... ahem... I mean Minato and Yukari, were at the Paulownia Mall spending time with each other on Christmas Eve. That day, it was beautifully decorated and was also well lit. The aura of the place is just perfect for a couple.

They were sitting on the bench where the present Yukari was sitting on now.

"Here, I have a present for you… it's been a while, so I hope it tastes alright," said Yukari while blushing.

She took out the box that was in the plastic bag and handed it to Minato. He then opened the box and in it, was a creamy chocolate cake that was made with a lot of heart. He gladly accepted the present from Yukari.

"I hope you like it…"

"… Thanks. I love it actually. And there's… something I want to give to you as well…" said Minato while putting his right hand into his pocket.

"Wow, you got something for me?!"

"That's right…… ah. Here it is…" said Minato while handing Yukari's present to her.

She immediately unwrapped it with a smile on her face.

"… T-This is…… Oh my gosh… I can't believe it…"

"Hmm?" said Minato while looking at Yukari's sparkling eyes.

"… I owe you big time. Next year, I'm gonna get you something nice! Thank you… Minato-kun…" said Yukari while blushing.

"You're most welcome…" said Minato with a slight blush on his face.

"When I first met you, Minato-kun… I never thought that we would be spending time together like this. I was so used to being alone. I wouldn't say this to anyone else…" Yukari paused for a while and continued while blushing even more, "… but. I've been dreaming of a moment like this."

"Y-Yukari…" said Minato while staring at Yukari.

"So…… Even though we're living in a crazy world… just for today… I want to be by your side, Minato-kun…" Yukari said as she sat closer to Minato.

"Yukari… I…I too…want to be by your side… but… not just for today…" Minato said while blushing.

"… Huh?"

"…Even when we're fighting against 'shadows'… every event that'll take place… I want to be with you all the way. No matter what," Minato said while staring at Yukari straight in the eyes.

"M-Minato-kun…"

Flashback ends and Yukari was smiling as tears started rolling down from her eyes.

"... If it weren't for this stupid Abyss of Time... I would've moved on... and not stay stagnant in the past... but I'll never ever forget you... Minato-kun..." she said as she wiped her tears.

"Yukari-san?"

"Huh...?"

It was Aigis. She went beside Yukari and sat down. Aigis looked at Yukari and wondered why she was crying.

"Tears? What happened Yukari-san?"

"O-Oh... it's nothing. I think the fountain water just splashed on my face or something... haha..." she said as she stood up and stretched.

"The fountain water splashed on your face? But your eyes..."

"Just forget about it, Aigis," she winked at Aigis with a smile, "Come on, we should get going. We still have a few doors to explore, so... are you with me?" Yukari stretched her hand out towards Aigis.

"O-Of course, Yukari-san. I'll always be on your side..." she said as she grabbed hold of Yukari's hand and got up.

"Alright! Let's just get rid of the Abyss of Time and continue moving on with our present lives!!"

Then the both of them ran through the door and got back to the lounge. Now Yukari has more determination in finally ending this nightmare! Now then, continuing on to the main story...

* * *

Author's notes:

This is more like a side story... hehe. Oh and if you've noticed, the Christmas Eve memory was copied from the other story I wrote, "Merii Kurisumasu", so for those who haven't read it, please go check it out!


	8. Act 7

Sorry for the long~ wait guys! I had lots to do… I guess this is for year end! Enjoy~! ^^

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 7: Ken's Past

They arrived at another door.

"… Geez… another one," said Yukari.

"Let's open it, Sister…"

"Right."

After going through the door, Ken is seen at the Police Station.

"Well, Sergeant?" an officer beside a senior officer said.

"Eh, you can go. Looks like a pretty routine accident. Hey kid, sorry I took so long. Says here that your name's... Ken Amada, is that right? Ah, well, geez... Sorry about what happened to your mom. But she gave her life to save you from the collapse," said the senior officer.

The officer left and only Ken and the senior officer were in the Police Station now…

All Ken did was look at the senior officer and did nothing else.

"Anyway, I gotta take your statement. You're a witness, after all."

Ken finally spoke, "… If I told you what happened... would you believe me?"

"Of course I would! Helping people out is our job!" the senior officer cheerfully said.

"My mom was... murdered."

"...?"

Ken began his story, "Around midnight, I got up to use the bathroom... and I heard voices by the door... I looked and saw this teenager, holding his head and yelling..."

"Wait... you're saying he did it? But the whole house was crushed!"

"There was this shining kind of horse monster, and it came right out of him! It roared, and my mom and my house were--!"

Before Ken cold continue…

The senior officer started to joke around, "Oh, a monster, huh? Haha... There's no way that actually happened. Oh, uh... I shouldn't laugh... I know sometimes after a traumatic incident like this, people can…"

Ken grabbed the officer's outer jacket, "I'm not lying, sir! And I really saw it!"

"Look," he pushed Ken away, "It was an accident, plain and simple. A drunk driver crashed his car into your house."

"A… car crash...?"

"We've already found the car and what's left of the driver. We just need an account of the accident now."

"That's a lie! You're making that up!" Ken yelled in denial.

"I know that's what you think, but... it's true."

Suddenly, an officer outside called the senior one.

"Wait!" Ken grabbed the senior officer's sleever, "I really saw it!"

"I'm sorry for your loss... I have to go, but well... hope things get better…"

The senior officer pats Ken and left him alone in the police station...

"Liar... You said you'd believe me! ..... I can't trust any adults. So I'll find him myself..."

The scene with Ken has ended and everyone is standing where the door used to be…

"The door's gone... But the first door didn't disappear. It just opened up to a new place..." said Hikari.

Fuuka looked at Ken, "Never mind that, but… that was…"

Ken chuckled, "That brings back memories. I thought of lots of ways to search for the culprit, but I couldn't manage any of them alone. I kept wondering why the culprit had special powers, and I didn't... I wonder if that's what led me to start experiencing the Dark Hour since that day..."

Everyone just looked at Ken…

"… My family must have been the ones who put the "accident" cover-up in place. ...I'm sorry for that," said Mitsuru who felt sorry.

"Hey, Hikari! What was that about?!" Akihiko yelled.

Hikari thought out loud again, "What was what about...? Oh, I see. Apparently, events that not everyone was involved in can only be watched. That's something new..."

"That's not what I meant! Why did we see such a painful memory?!"

"Huh...? How would I know? It's your past…" said Hikari as if it wasn't her business.

"You'd better not be hiding anything…" said the frustrated Akihiko.

"How would I benefit from that? I'm only speculating, but... I think the 'door' reflects the mind of those who enter it. It's the same reason we found a place to get supplies, and why we were able to return directly back."

"…" Yukari looked at Hikari.

"Right now, you wish to erase the Abyss of Time as soon as possible and make it out alive, right? If so, then although what's inside the doors seems unrelated to our situation, we see it for a reason... Maybe you should think hard about what the reason might be instead of wasting time accusing me!" explained Hikari who was also getting frustrated.

"Why you?!"

"It's all right, Sanada-san… What she's saying... might be true," Ken cut in.

"Ken..."

"Actually, I've been wondering about all of that lately... Things weren't perfect, but it seemed more straightforward and... pure back then, when I was fighting. We don't get that kind of passion by just going to school every day…"

Ken gazed at Akihiko, "Sanada-san, you've dedicated yourself to boxing again recently, right? Isn't that because... you don't want to lose the feeling you used to have? ...Of course, that could just be my own way of seeing it."

"…Maybe you're right. Maybe I do feel just like I did..." said Akihiko.

Suddenly, Yukari voiced out, "H-Hey come on, let's not talk like that. There's no use bringing up the past... Don't you remember our entire reason for risking everything? If we don't keep our eyes forward, it was all a waste of time…"

"Yukari… san…" said Aigis who was surprised.

"...Let's get going. We don't have time to lose."

……

And so, they went back to the lounge…

For what reason did the vision of a friend's past suddenly appear...? They continue traveling deeper and deeper into the Abyss of Time to find the answer to these events…

The story continues…

* * *

Author's notes:

Phew... finally this story has been updated… actually, I finished this Act really early, but when I wanted to post it, the file wasn't in my pendrive nor my computer… and I remembered I deleted my story folder in my pendrive… so this is a redo… not really good redo… uh anyway, please R & R. Thanks!


	9. Act 8

Well, I bring you Act 8. I'll skip right to the past events, so enjoy! ^^

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 8: Akihiko's Past

A school hallway is shown and a familiar looking student was walking in the hallway…

"Akihiko-kun, wait!" a female student shouted.

"Akihiko-kun!" Another one called out to him as well.

"Hold on a sec! You're the captain, aren't you?" A man from behind shouted as well.

"Aargh, quit pushing! Practice time is over!" One of the boxing club members yelled.

"Hey you! Sanada-kun, right?" a student from another school asked.

Akihiko nodded and looked back…

"That was an amazing bout! I've never seen a junior high fighter deliver a KO like that! I'm with the school you were up against in the finals. What do you say about enrolling with us? We'll give you a fat scholarship-- you'd only have to pay half your tuition!" the student from another school said in delight.

Akihiko just looked at him and was speechless. He's strong but he wasn't the 'talkative' type…

"Hey... you're from another school!? That's against the rules and you know it!" Akihiko's club friend yelled.

"Sorry, but I don't see any reason to join a school that places second. ...Get outta here," Akihiko just left after that.

"Kyaa! Akihiko-kun is so cool!"

"You hear that? He'd never go to your loser school!" One of Akihiko's fan girls said.

"Come on already! Go home! ...Sheesh, we can't leave until you guys do!"

Still at the hallway…

"What a day…"

"_**chuckle…**_ Couldn't you have handled that a little more politely?" A noble looking female student came.

"I heard it gets crowded after practice, so I waited here instead. Third year, class C... Akihiko Sanada."

"Whatddaya want? Autographs?" he said, getting frustrated.

"No but...Aren't you going to ask who I am?

"Why should I? Whatever you've come for, I don't want to get involved. All I want is to train and get stronger," he said with a smirk.

"It's nothing troublesome. I have a very simple request," she said walking closer to Akihiko.

"A request...?"

"I have enemies that need defeating. They're not people, I assure you. You wouldn't be bound by the rules of boxing. No, the enemies I speak of... they're related to what you've recently been experiencing each midnight," she said with a glare.

"......!?" he was shocked to hear what she said.

"You see, I'm in the same situation. I experience the same thing you do. The difference is, I know what it means. If you come with me... I'll share what I know with you," this time, she said with a smile on her face.

"Who… are you?" Akihiko asked in curiosity.

"Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm a third year, like you."

"Kirijo...? I've heard that name before."

"You said you wanted to build your strength. What you really need is a riskier challenge."

Mitsuru pulls out an Evoker from her pocket and hands it to Akihiko…

"And with this... you can challenge 'them'."

"......" Akihiko just stared at the evoker.

The door vanishes and the present is shown once again…

"The door vanished this time too..." said Hikari.

"First Ken's past, and now mine... What in the world does it mean?" Akihiko asked.

"I have no idea, either..." Ken answered.

"That really brought me back, though... We were both in junior high then," Misturu had a smile on her face.

"To tell the truth, I thought that girl was crazy until I first summoned my Persona. What was I supposed to expect when you gave me what looked like a gun five minutes after meeting me?"

"All part of the plan... That was the best way I could think of to get your attention. If I'd asked you to do something like 'fight for justice', I knew you'd never listen," Mitsuru chuckled.

"Heh… You can say that again," Akihiko started to laugh.

Yukari went to where Hikari was standing…

"So that was a 'school'..." Hikari said while wondering.

"That's right. But it was just a small portion of a school, you know?"

"Really? Then, it's actually much bigger than that?" Hikari asked with curiosity.

Yukari nodded, "You seriously haven't been outside much, now have you?"

"Well... That's..."

"Hey, don't get the wrong idea… I didn't mean to embarrass you. It's nothing to be ashamed of. School's actually a pretty nice place…" Yukari smiled.

"Do you... also go to school, Sister?" asked Hikari.

"Of course I do. Well since this Abyss of Time thing is in the way, I can't go back to school for the time being."

"You know... I don't think Hikari is a bad person at all," said Fuuka.

"I agree with Fuuka-san…" said Aigis.

"We've been taking her so seriously up till now, but... She's just a kid inside, isn't she?" said Junpei.

"Hey, I heard that 'Stupei'," said Hikari while glaring at Junpei.

" 'S-Stu— Hey, Yuka-tan! You taught her that didn't you?!"

"I don't know. Don't ask me," Yukari said while giggling.

"Yu-ka-tan!!!!!!"

_......_

After that, everyone went back to the lounge. Who's past will they see next? Find out soon…

* * *

Author's notes:

Uh… it's too short. Anyway, sorry for the long wait for the update of this story. I've been busy! Well, I'll try my best to upload more as fast as possible!!!


	10. Act 9

I present you with Act 9! Enjoy!!!

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 9: Junpei's Past

Junpei was shown sitting on a bench at the Paulownia Mall…

Junpei sighed, "Stupid old man... How low do you have to be to get drunk on cooking wine...?"

Koromaru walks in from the outside.

"But I guess it's just as pathetic to rush out like this every day..." Junpei sighed again, "Maaan... What am I gonna do...? I got nowhere to go..."

He saw Koromaru and forced a smile, "Yo... 'sup, pooch? Here to join my "Nowhere To Go" after-school club?"

"Arf arf!"

"Hehe... Sorry, pooch, I don't have any food for ya. Y'know... Haven't I seen you around here before...?" said Junpei as he started to think.

All of a sudden, two guys walk towards him...

"Hey, it's Junpei!" one of them said.

"Huh...? Oh, hey guys."

"Why the long face? Are you that sad that we're in different Homerooms now?" his former classmate teased.

"Still dumb as rocks, huh? Wait, isn't it way past your dorm curfew? What're you guys doing out so late?" asked Junpei.

"Oh, we snuck out. When you get to be a junior, you learn the secret exit. Hey, we're going to Escapade, wanna come with? We're helping this guy drown his sorrows over a girl," said his former classmate while using his elbow to poke his friend's arm.

"That's not true!" Junpei's former classmate's friend objected.

"Hehe, don't let it get to you. That's what you get for going after someone like Yukari Takeba. Although I never expected her to hook up with the new transfer student... I guess she goes for that kinda dark side of his."

"Dark? He seemed like a regular dude to me..." said Junpei while crossing his arms.

"No, I'm serious. That transfer kid? Rumor has it both his parents died when he was little. Someone got a peek at his file when Toriumi left it lying around."

"Man, you're so gullible... That stuff only happens in soap operas!" Junpei chuckled.

"Hey, I said it was a rumor. C'mon, let's get going! You snooze, no booze!" his former classmate invited him.

"Booze...? Oh, uh... I think I'm gonna pass…"

"Huh? What's the matter? C'mon, why don'tcha live a little…"

"I said I'm gonna pass! I just... ain't in the mood," Junpei looked at the ground.

"Well, man, looks like I'm the only one you got to console you," his former classmate looked at his friend with a smirk.

"I keep telling you, nothing happened!!!"

And they went into Escapade…

"Heh... They offered to hand out, and I turned 'em down... Things never go the way I want 'em to."

Koromaru just whimpered and looked as if he understood Junpei…

"Man... Is my life really as bad as it seems now...? I wish there was like... something I could do to change the world... Like some awesome skill that no one else has."

Koromaru continued whimpering…

"Haha, don't gimme that. I'm sure someday... we can make some real friends that'll listen to us," Junpei smiled and patted Koromaru.

"Arf!"

After that, everyone returned back to where the door once was…

"Heh... All the scenes in my past, and you guys had to see that one..."

"Junpei-kun…" Fuuka said with a sorry look on her face.

"Arf!"

"Dude, I know! I was surprised to see you, too! So, you were the dog from that day!"

Koromaru seemed happy.

"Makes it seem kinda like... destiny," said Junpei while looking at Koromaru.

"Arf!"

"Looking back, that was the day Akihiko-san found me. The only place I could go from there was the convenience store, and that's where I was when the Dark Hour hit..."

"You were bawling in the dark with that awful expression. Honestly? You looked worse than the Shadows!" said Akihiko followed by a chuckle.

"W-Well, what was I supposed to do!? That was the scariest moment of my life, man!"

"Junpei-san…" said Aigis with a smile.

"But y'know, I had other stuff to deal with, like my old man... So staying at the dorm, and fighting Shadows, and all that stuff looked pretty good," Junpei said as he smiled.

"I see... Unlike me, other people usually have reasons to "awaken"... I comprehend," said Hikari.

"Well, I didn't need a reason as well, Hikari-san," said Aigis.

"Oh really? Hmm... I think I'm starting to get it. There is a reason we see what we see inside the doors. Doors that have delivered on that reason disappear, and those with roles still to play remain..."

"Man... What are you talking about? What kind of reason?" asked Yukari.

"I can't say for sure... bur if we keep moving forward, I think we'll start seeing it. Let's do our best, Sister," said Hikari with a smile.

" I-I guess you're right..."

Yukari begins to narrate…

"_Well now, I think I'm starting to get the picture of why we keep seeing these scenes of the past. I don't know about the others but… I already understand why… could it have something to do with our 'Personas'? Our destiny? We have to keep moving on to understand more…"_

Everyone went back after seeing another person's past. Who's next? Find out in the next Act!

* * *

Author's notes:

And I'm done! What a short act… Oh forget it. I hope you all have enjoyed Act 9! I'm sure you all know who's next, so till then… wait for it to this story to be updated!!!


	11. Act 10

... Here's Act 10! I didn't really have mood to write this... since it's on a character I truly dislike...!!! Go figures… anyway… no choice. Sheesh…

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 10: Misturu's Past

A child Mitsuru and her father are with several others in Tartarus.

"So this is the interior of Tartarus... It's only the second time anyone has been here without special equipment," said one of the guards.

"......"

"Normal weaponry is useless against Shadows. Any equipment we brought would be for your peace of mind. Everyone here has had their "potential" developed in our labs... That should suffice to protect us. And even if you're devoured, that in itself would be valuable data for us. Hahaha..." a scientist said while laughing like a madman.

"Ugh... Is anyone left in the Ergo Division who isn't a psycho? In any case, Sir... Are you all right with this? I mean... bringing your daughter..."

"I don't mind at all. I myself requested to come along," said Mitsuru while standing close to her father.

"...You heard her," said Takeharu.

"...I see. I'm sorry to have spoken out of turn, Sir."

One of the guards suddenly broke down…

The other guard saw him and went to him, "Hey, what's wrong...?"

"Ngh... Agh... Aaagh! Gaaaaaaah!"

Suddenly, he turns into a Shadow…

"Wh-What the..?!"

"Looks like its back to the drawing board for the artificial development of 'potential'...!" said the scientist who was going crazy.

"Sir, Miss, step aside!" the guard said while taking out his pistol.

"That's... a Shadow..." Mitsuru said in a shock.

"You little--!"

The guard fired at the Shadow until it swats him aside, leaving the Kirijos unguarded…

"Uwaah!"

"This isn't good...!" said Takeharu.

"I won't let you hurt Father!!!"

All of a sudden… Penthesilea comes out of Mitsuru and kills the Shadow. Weird enough though, Mitsuru was floating in the sky…

"Oh... did you see that!? Such power! It's a 'Persona'! I was right! Persona-users do exist!"

Mitsuru then falls into her father's arms…

"Mitsuru!"

"Father... I'm glad you're safe..."

"That was wonderful, Lady Mitsuru! A beautiful expression of your natural potential! At last, our future seems bright!" the scientist praised her.

"Why are you so happy about it?! Now... Mitsuru can never escape from the destiny of atonement... She'll spend her life bound to our cursed legacy, when she should be finding her own way. What's so bright about that...?!" yelled Takeharu.

"Don't worry, Father... I chose this for myself... I'll protect you… Father..." Mitsuru fainted.

"Mit…suru..."

And they were back to where the door once was…

"Was that Senpai's...?" asked Yukari.

"Hmm...? Oh... yes," said Mitsuru who looked a little sad.

"Senpai...? What's the matter?"

"Ah, well.... I'm sorry, it's just that... Seeing Father before my eyes, as if he were still alive, was..."

"Senpai..." said Yukari, feeling sorry for Mitsuru.

"Aww, but wasn't Mitsuru-senpai really cute when she was little?" said Junpei.

"Excuse me, Iori? Are you saying that's no longer the case?"

"Uhhh, n-no... That's not what I-- C'mon, you got it all wrong!" Junpei objected and felt a slight blush on his face.

"...It's exactly as I though. Of the past events we've seen up to this point... The first one seemed to be about getting ready for battle, but the others... How should I put it... It feels like there's some aspect they all have in common. Don't you all think so?" said Hikari.

"Yeah... But for now, we don't know what that might be," replied Yukari.

"This is the fifth door... We should be getting closer to the source we're looking for..."

"Oh... I just remembered! There's something I have to tell you all! Remember the machinery and documents Mitsuru-senpai found? I looked into them, and it turns out they were things that the Chairman hid when he was still alive... Most of them were from the accident 10 years ago, so he must have hid them so they wouldn't be destroyed. Some of the notes I found seemed to be talking about the Abyss of Time..." Fuuka explained.

"Is that true?!" asked Akihiko.

"We may be close to discovering what this place really is," Fuuka replied.

"We're closing in on it, huh?" said Ken.

"… Well then, let's move forward. We can't back out now."

......

They went back to the lounge…

The next Act, 11, they'll be seeing a certain person's past… depending on WHO you want to see… In Act 10.5, the two separate endings will be given and it's up to you to choose which path they should go. Watch out for it!

* * *

Author's notes:

HAHAHA!!! End of MIT-SU-RU's STUPID PAST!!! U-Uh… please don't get mad, guys… I'm a 100 % Misturu Kirijo hater for some reasons… anyway, the next .5 act will feature a 'good' and 'bad' ending path. Haha! Well, so continue reading!


	12. Act 10 5

Well, I split up the 'Judecca' door into two called Kaze and Raiden which is also Wind and Lightning. Because the two doors represent two different endings. The decision is yours to make on which door Yukari and the others should go through…

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 10.5: Futari no Doa _lit. _The Two Doors

While taking a break from fighting and such, Yukari decided to check out the Desert of Doors once again…

At the Desert of Doors…

"… This place is seriously like a desert, only with doors…"

"What are you doing here, Sister?"

Hikari came to check up on Yukari.

"Ah… just checking out this place. One more… door…?"

"What's wrong, Sister?"

"W-Wasn't there supposed to be… just one more door to be explored?"

"Huh?" Hikari started to count, "… Oh? There are two more doors?"

"T-That doesn't make sense! I'll go get the others, you stay here for a while, ok?"

Hikari nodded and went closer to the two new doors to check on it…

After a while, Yukari brought everyone down…

"Senpai, wasn't there just supposed to be one door left? When we got back here after seeing your past, there was just one more door left right?" asked Yukari.

Mitsuru nodded, "That's right…"

"Don't tell me another door just popped out of nowhere…" said Akihiko.

"… No. These two glowing doors are most definitely here for quite some time… but both have different auras…" said Hikari.

Everyone just stared at Hikari…

"… What I mean is, these doors have different feelings. It's like… once you step in, the other will disappear and the door you enter will decide your fate."

"Wow… you sure about that, Hika-chan?" asked Junpei.

"Yes, and don't call me that," Hikari said and glared at Junpei for calling her 'Hika-chan'.

Aigis went to one of the doors, "… Hmm? Something's calling me through this door…"

Yukari went to where Aigis is, "Huh? Really…?"

"Y-Yes… but… I wonder why…?" asked Aigis.

"Hmm… that means these two doors are the doors to the past for either Aigis-san's, Yukari-san's, Fuuka-san's or Hikari-san's…" said Ken.

"... My… past…?" said Fuuka.

"… I don't have a past," Hikari said softly.

"Ok, that's it… Hikari, please explain," said Yukari who was getting serious.

"… I-I don't know! This is seriously unexpected, Sister…!"

"… So then, Yukari, which door should we enter? The one that has the aura of lightning… or the one that has a slight breeze?" said Mitsuru as if she can feel the aura of both doors.

"… I'll rethink this matter over and over… after all, these two doors lead us to a different destiny like what Hikari said, right?"

Hikari nodded, "Yes… so choose wisely, Sister… the decision is important. A wrong decision might lead to a wrong ending that you wanted…"

"O-Ok… s-stop pressuring me. Let's go back to the lounge for a while. I need a little more time to think…" said Yukari.

And they went back to the lounge as they awaited Yukari's decision…

Which door would you want to go through? The one that has the aura of lightning, 'Raiden'? Or the one that has the aura of wind, 'Kaze'? The decision and fate of S.E.E.S. is in your hands…

* * *

Author's notes:

Hey, don't pressure yourselves with the decision ok, guys? Anyway, the Poll's already up! You can find it at my profile, so please vote, ok guys? Thanks! ^^


	13. Act 11

Thanks for voting, everyone! Now to see the results of your choice. I hope it'll meet your expectations!

**

* * *

****Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 11: KAZE, Yukari's Past

At long last, they came to a decision that they wanted to enter the door that had an aura of wind…

For a while, they looked really hesitant. Of course they would, all they only saw were painful memories of the past whenever they open a door.

"Let's open it." Fuuka said softly.

"What do _you_ think, Sister?" Hikari asked, "The decision is in your hands."

Yukari just gulped, "Well…." She seemed hesitant, but finally she nodded slowly.

And so, the door opened.

In it, Yukari can be seen; sitting alone in a dorm and not the dorm they're currently at.

Suddenly, an announcement was announced, _"Attention, all students in the dormitory. The cafeteria will be closing in 30 minutes."_

"Oh, crap..." Yukari looked annoyed, "...Forget it," and she let out a sigh.

A while later, two female students who seemed to be her classmates went to where she's sitting.

"Oh, there you are, Yukari. We went to your room to look for you," one of them said.

"Oh uh, sorry. I don't think I can make it today…" Yukari replied with a weak smile.

"We'll let it slide for today," she saw Yukari's school bag next to her, "Hey, what's with your bag? Have you even been to your room since we got back?"

Yukari was spacing out, "Huh...? I guess… not."

"You've gotta be kidding me! How long have you been zoned out there?"

The other classmate asked, worried, "Are you… not feeling well?"

"No, no. That's not it! Sorry to have worried you, I'm fine really… it's just that it's hard to believe it's already been four years since I got here," said Yukari.

Her classmate then smiled, "Yeah… Our youth's gone in a flash."

Then the other one continued, "Us freshmen don't have much time left either before our high school lives are over…"

"So, Yukari. Don't fret about it so much and let's just give it our all, ok?" her classmate then gave her a thumbs-up.

"Yeah, you're right… thanks."

"Anyway, we're going to our rooms. See you tomorrow, ok? Yukari?"

Then they both leave. Yukari's left alone again…

She sighed, "Things went by so fast... I should've figured just attending classes at Gekkoukan wouldn't let me learn more about dad and more to the point… it has already been ten whole years. Maybe I should just… give up."

Suddenly, the dorm manager came holding a bunch of letters in her hands.

"Ah, Takeba-san! You are Takeba-san, the freshman, right?" she asked.

"Uh huh… that's me," she nodded slowly.

"Oh good. There's a letter for you. It actually came in last night but the transfer stamps were marked three or four times over your name, so I wasn't able to read it."

Then, she handed the letter to Yukari which made her shocked as she sees who it's from.

"… W-What?!"

"It's from an Eiichiro Takeba. Is he a relative?" asked the dorm manager.

"B-But that's not possible! Commemorating the opening of the Moonlight Bridge... Ten years ago...?!" When she read it out, the expression on her face showed an extremely shocked reaction.

And so, she ran out of the dorm, leaving her things behind on the bench she was sitting on…

The dorm manager was practically yelling as Yukari rushed out, "Excuse me! You need to sign for that! And you forgot your things! These are your things, aren't they? Takeba-san? Takeba-san!!!"

After that, everyone's standing at where the door used to be…

"You were all alone... Trying to fight the Kirijo Group's deception by yourself for so long..." said Mitsuru, feeling sorry for Yukari.

"It's not like that, senpai…" replied Yukari.

"If we're being forced to look into our pasts... It would've been nice if you could have seen your father. ...I would've liked to meet him," Mitsuru said, trying to lighten things up.

Yukari started becoming annoyed, "… Whatever. Now's not the time to go over the past. I'm tired of dealing with Shadows. We should hurry and finish this."

"Yukari-san… aren't you pushing yourself too hard?" asked Aigis.

"… I-I'm not. Anyway, I have to lead you guys for his sake and end this. I made a promise to him too."

"Yukari..." Mitsuru started to worry.

"Now that we know that this door leads to my past, I've confirmed what it means. The idea we had about there being something in common between all the memories we've seen..." said Yukari.

Akihiko started to think, "So that means... On that day we first saw Ken's past, did you already...?"

"Ken-kun's story, Akihiko-senpai's story... Junpei's and Koromaru's too. Mitsuru-senpai's is the one that makes it the most obvious."

"Huh...? I'm not following you here..." said Junpei who's getting confused.

"What we've seen is each of our reasons for awakening to our Persona," said Yukari with a serious tone of voice.

"It makes sense. Fuuka awakened in front of everyone, Aigis and Hikari could already use it from the beginning... So there's no need to see their memories. That would make the most sense," said Mitsuru.

"But even if that's so, why would we be seeing that here? Is it telling us to step back and examine our origins...?" asked Ken.

Everyone but Hikari gathers in a circle to chit-chat for a bit. Hikari just looked at them at the far corner.

"Yoooo, Yuka-tan's Sister! Don't act like this doesn't involve you... Let's hear what you think," said Junpei, inviting her to join the conversation.

She just let out a sigh, "Why should I...? I can't talk about the past with you all. I don't know anything about it…" Hikari replied with a sad tone of voice.

"What's wrong?" asked Yukari.

"Nothing... I meant just what I said. You said you wouldn't leave me behind... But I don't know anything about your pasts, so I'm always lost during these conversations..."

Junpei then started to tease Hikari, "Ahhh, I get it. You're lonely! See? You're a kid after all. Heh, now I get why you got all well-behaved when we said we'd leave you behind..."

And she was provoked, "I'm NOT a kid."

Yukari sighed, "You may not know anything about us, but we don't know anything about you either. Everyone should have at least a part of their memories even if they have amnesia or whatsoever."

"Isn't it time you told us who you are?" asked Akihiko.

"...Memories, huh... But I don't..."

Before Hikari could continue, her mask closed.

"Oh! It closed..." said Fuuka.

"Sheesh..." Junpei was annoyed.

"Hikari, I think you misunderstand. Not all of our pasts were

glamorous. To be honest, there were more painful memories than pleasant ones," said Mitsuru trying to cheer Hikari up.

"That's clearly not true. All the things you laugh and talk about are from your past, how would you explain that?"

What Hikari said left the group in silence. What she said might have a little sense…

Yukari begins to narrate again…

"_What Hikari said is true and yet not true at the same time. But I felt, for the very first time... That the reason time stopped may really have something to do with us..."_

And so, they decided to return to the lounge but Yukari stayed back at the Desert of Doors…

She looked at the direction at where she came out from and saw that the door that was once beside it, vanished, leaving a total of only one door left to explore.

The finale is close at hand… or maybe not?

* * *

Author's note:

I think I made a mistake in Act 10.5, so I'll write it here. There's supposed to be three more doors, KAZE, RAIDEN and the final one Empyrean. Well, it doesn't really affect the story but I'm just highlighting my own mistake. Thanks for reading everyone! See you in the next Act!


	14. Act 12

Here it is! The finale! Or maybe not…?

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 12: The Awakening and the Key of Time

Everyone walks towards the final door, Empyrean.

"Could this be... the deepest part of the Abyss of Time...?" asked Aigis.

"You think? It's no different than the rest of the ones we've seen..." said Yukari.

"But that fits, logically. Which means that the Abyss' origin—the reason for the time skips-- is here..." said Mitsuru.

Suddenly, Fuuka remembered something, "...Oh! There's something I had to tell you all. It was in the papers about the Abyss of Time I mentioned before..."

"Oh? You found out about something?" asked Akihiko.

Fuuka sounded worried, "If the report is correct, this place came into existence as a reaction to the creation of Tartarus..."

"Huh? A reaction...?" asked Junpei.

"The gigantic tower rising so high left a gigantic hole in its place. That's the Abyss," replied Fuuka.

Mitsuru then asked, "Does that mean they've known about this for 10 years?"

"They decided it would be harmless if left alone, since it would probably disappear with Tartarus. But it also said that since the Abyss is just a byproduct, there should be no Shadows in it..."

"Wait a sec! There's a friggin' ton of Shadows here! And it if was supposed to go poof along with Tartarus, why are we standing in it now? Did they forget a decimal place or somethin'?" Junpei, getting annoyed, asked.

"No, their logic makes sense. What was supposed to vanish is still here because of some force. One side's removal caused an imbalance..." said Hikari with a serious tone of voice.

"I wonder what that force could be…" said Aigis softly.

"Who knows? Maybe it's somewhere down here. One thing's certain, though: it's deeply connected to all of you," said Hikari.

"What's up with that!? What in the world did we do to deserve this...?!" exclaimed Junpei.

"Well, there's another door... If that's here, then maybe..."

Before Ken could continue, Akihiko cut in, "What's goin' on? Is that the big 'reason' behind all this?"

"If we leave out Aigis, Metis, and me... Whose past is left?" asked Fuuka.

"Hey, yeah... Who else was there that had powers like ours?" asked Junpei.

"……" Yukari remained silent.

"Whatever that 'reason' is, it's strong enough to keep the Abyss of Time from disappearing... And we've come to erase that reason. We could be in for a battle. We should be very prepared before entering," Hikari warned everyone.

"She's right. ...This appears to be our goal. Don't worry. We can do this." Said Mitsuru.

"_Enter, new wielder of the Wild Card…"_

Yukari heard the voice, "… H-Huh?"

"Yukari? Is there something wrong?" asked Mitsuru.

"N-No, it's nothing. Let's head in. It's our goal right?" she said as she sighed.

As she opens the door, everyone appears to be in a dark room… 'His' room.

It seemed to be the day 'he' officially went into eternal slumber. Another Yukari, presumably the Yukari that day, was sitting beside him, holding his hands, crying.

"Please… I beg you… wake up… for me… please…"

"… Yukari… san…" he replied, but with an extremely weak tone of voice.

She was shocked, "Y-You're… awake… you're okay… right Minato-kun…?!" said Yukari while crying but was trying to smile.

"… I'm… fine… Yukari… can you promise me… something… before I… go…?" he said with his right hand reaching for her left cheek.

"B-Before you go…?! D-Don't say that…! P-Please…!" Yukari continued crying.

"P-Promise me… that you'll stop… mankind from wishing for… the return… of Nyx…" Minato slowly closed his eyes.

"M-Minato-kun… I… no… come one… stay awake…!"

"Come on… let me see you smile… before I go… I… trust you…" he said while putting his hand down and closed his eyes completely.

"No… Minato-kun… wake up… please… s-see…? I'm… smiling…! I know that… you're just… playing around right…? Please! Wake up…!!!" Yukari smiled for a brief duration and went back to crying.

"……"

There finally wasn't a response or a voice coming out from his mouth. He had already passed away…

"… I… I was… the only one who… truly heard… his final wishes… not Aigis… so I will… do whatever it takes… to fulfill it… I'll… I'll do it for you, Minato-kun…!" she said while sobbing and held on to his cold hand tightly.

After a while, the scene changes to a dark and empty place where Yukari's all alone. But 'he' suddenly appears behind her.

"… Aren't you…?!"

He begins to walk away. As Yukari runs after him, he continues to slip away…

"No…! Stop! Wait, don't go!!!" and she falls down.

"Ugh… no! Don't leave me!"

He vanishes entirely, and Yukari gets up.

"Why…? Why did you have to… go? Without you, I… I feel so hopeless. You're the person whom I can trust and also, the person who I've decided to protect although I never show it… It makes me feel like it's my fault that you died, you know?

Yukari kneels onto the floor, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"If so... I wish... I could just return to being a mere ordinary teenager, know nothing about Personas… and also, not knowing about SEES and the members in it… I rather forget about everything that had happened…"

Everyone was back at where the door once was…

Ken was confused, "Huh...? That's... the cause?"

"D-Don't ask me..." said Junpei, who was also confused.

"But... Well... I didn't expect that we'd get to see him again... Although his face was covered by the moonlight shadow and he had his back turned the second time..." said Fuuka.

"...Indeed," said Mitsuru who looked at Yukari.

Yukari remained silent and looked onto the ground.

"But what's it mean? That looked like it was another of Takeba's memory. What kind of clue is that...?" said Akihiko who was confused as well.

"Akihiko… senpai. That wasn't just a memory," she paused as she looked at Akihiko sternly, "It was a dream. The first part of it was a memory and also a dream I dream before the second part. I always wake up, covered in sweat after having that dream. A dream where I chase after him but can never ever reach him."

"Yuka-tan…"

"Sister..." Hikari sounded worried.

Yukari then had a weak smile on her face, "But after a while, I stopped dreaming of that dream entirely. It felt like a weight on my chest lightened and fell off... That must have been... the last time I had that dream."

"… I think I understand now. Maybe Yukari-san's dream is somehow related to her awakening to 'his' powers…" said Aigis.

"… That may be true, but…"

Before Mitsuru could continue, Hikari asked, "Sister... are you still in pain? The person we saw... He's the one who had the same kind of power as you, isn't he...?"

Yukari sighed, "Yeah, supposedly so. But one question, were my memory and dream the big cause of all this? But they really didn't explain anything..."

"To me, what we all saw was only my Sister's memory and dream, but... all of you want to see him again, right? Then the answer is obvious," said Hikari.

"...What do you mean, Hikari-san?" asked Aigis.

"What I said at the start was right all along... The fastest way to solve this would be to eliminate all of you…" Hikari said, sounding serious.

Fuuka finally understood, "So... that means that figure we keep seeing is…"

Mitsuru suddenly cut in, "Wait, something's wrong...!"

A black mist suddenly appears at where the door was…

"What the...?!" exclaimed Yukari.

Hikari then got ready her weapon, "Just as I thought... It's coming... The monster that's taken the shape of your regrets."

From the black mist, a person who looked like Minato, came out of it.

"N-No way…!" Yukari exclaimed, not believing what she's seeing.

"You gotta be kidding... That can't be--!" exclaimed Junpei.

"This is the reason for everything... From the Abyss of Time's failure to disappear, to the presence of the Shadows... This... was born from all of you…" said Hikari.

They then fought the shadow and had quite a rough time. It was even able to use the SEES members' Personas. From Isis, Athena, Trismegistus, Artemesia, Caesar, Kala-Nemi and all the way to Cerberus.

After quite a long time, they finally annihilated it and it disappeared, the black mist following it. Everything went back to normal in the Abyss.

"We did it..." said Akihiko.

"That was... the monster born from us? But it was..." said Yukari.

"Yes... its powers and form were familiar, but it was a Shadow," Mitsuru stated.

"Wait, but that makes no sense. Persona-users are supposed to beat Shadows, right?" asked Junpei who's getting more confused.

Hikari was frustrated, "What are you talking about? Don't tell me you've been fighting them this whole time without knowing... Personas and Shadows are the same thing. That's why you're able to fight them in the first place."

Then she sighed, "Did you all think that Shadows were mysterious invaders or something? Shadows are the lower parts of the psyche everyone has... Suppressed human thoughts given physical form. When people are unable to face their darker selves, they break loose, free from all control. But sometimes, humans with special awareness can tame their Shadows... Those are Persona-users," she explained.

"So Personas and Shadows... They're the same thing, just different names?" asked Junpei.

"Let's say for instance, if someone was able to create Aigis, wouldn't he need to understand this?" questioned Hikari.

"...All those people lost their lives…" Mitsuru said softly.

Yukari thought of her father as Mitsuru said that.

"Then... the reason for all this is our Personas?" asked Fuuka.

"The Shadows' power affects time and even space... Through your Personas, your unspoken desires were manifested... You can't stand to see time move on... You don't want to accept your loss of someone precious... It was by each of your wishes that time stopped moving forward... And as a result, you all became trapped here," Hikari explained as easy to understand as possible.

"So we trapped ourselves...? Hah... It's almost funny..." said Ken.

Akihiko smiled, "Whatever the reason was, we beat that thing. We won. That should solve all this, right?"

"Yes, that is correct. If we return to the dorm, we may be able to go outside," said Hikari with a nod.

All of a sudden, everyone except Hikari receives something glowing that was shaped like a mini-key.

"Is this… a key?" asked Aigis.

"You should be able to leave using those keys. Once you make it outside, the Abyss of Time should disappear on its own," replied Hikari.

"Great! I'm glad this didn't end up taking another year," said Junpei with a smile.

"But these keys... There are eight of them," said Ken.

"That's because each of you played a part in bringing this about. The door probably won't open unless all eight are used at once."

Yukari thought to herself, _"'Strength of heart, when united, is barred by no door...' …could it be that those words…"_

"So it'll open if we're all around, is that right? Then let's get outta here! Uh... So are we just gonna waltz out through the front door?" asked Junpei, excited to get out.

"That door, or another one... There's still one closed door that doesn't connect to the outside world. The main entrance, or that door... It's one or the other," Hikari replied, noting there's another door.

"A door that doesn't connect to the outside world...?" asked Akihiko.

"Hikari, are you talking about... the door to his room? I just assumed someone had locked it…" said Yukari.

Hikari nodded, "That door has the same feel as the doors to the past we've been going through up to now."

"What do you mean by 'one or the other'? If we open it, won't it just connect to another past?" asked Mitsuru.

"That's right. If you go through the entrance, you'll return to the present. But that door leads to the past."

Fuuka started to not understand, "The past...?"

"The world of the past. You've all been there many times now. But this time, the Abyss will disappear once you go through the door. You'll be in the true past," she said becoming serious.

"Is that true?!" exclaimed Akihiko.

"Why would I lie about something like this? If you don't believe me, then why don't you try leaving through the entrance?"

"To accept the past, or to revisit it... You're saying that in the end, we have to choose," said Mitsuru.

"… So, we're able to revisit the past… huh…" Yukari then looked at Hikari, "Uh hey, which one do _you _wanna go into, Hikari?"

"I'll go along with whatever you decide, Sister. That way... I'll finally be able to save you from this cursed fate... To be honest, that's all I care about," she smiled at Yukari.

"'Cursed fate'...?"

"Anyway, which one are you going to choose, Sister?"

Yukari just stared blankly at Hikari.

"Uh, hey... W-Why don't we go back to the dorm first? This is way too heavy to decide right here don'tcha think so too, Yuka-tan?"

Yukari just nodded and so, they returned back to the lounge, not knowing what will happen next.

What's Yukari's decision? Most of you should know but, oh well, find out in the next Act!

* * *

Author's note:

Well, the fighting will begin soon! Stay tuned for it! And please R & R, thanks!!!


	15. Act 13

This was done a long time ago. Well, here's Act 13, enjoy~!

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 13: Conflicting Decisions & The Battle Between Friends

When they returned back to the lounge, they were surprised to see many golden cracks on the floor, wall and ceiling.

"What're all these cracks?" Junpei exclaimed.

"This is bad... It's becoming unstable... It should last a little longer, but we don't have much time. If the fault extends to the door, we may not be able to leave even with the keys..." said Hikari.

"Tch... It's just one thing after another, isn't it?"

And so, they decided to hold a meeting, on which door to go to.

"So, uh... What's the plan? I mean... no one is seriously thinking about going back to the past, right?" asked Junpei.

Yukari looked at him with eyes that have decided on where to go, but she said nothing. He didn't look at her as well.

"Um... I've been thinking... Why do you think he died? They never figured out the cause of death at the hospital, right...?" asked Ken.

Junpei tried to answer Ken, "Well, that's..."

"Personally... I still think it's because he used all his power to accomplish that miracle. In other words, we were saved because he gave up his life. He gave everything for us... So it doesn't seem right to undo all his work on our own..." Ken said with a weak smile.

Fuuka looked at Ken, "Ken-kun..."

"I'm with Ken. We've all seen what kind of resolve it takes to face death... That resolve, and what it brought about... There's no way we can cancel that out on our own whims. Even if it hurts, we have to deal with it and accept the present," Akihiko agreed with Ken.

Mitsuru, feeling that she had already know what Yukari will do, asked her, "Yukari... What about you?"

Junpei smiled, "You're all about the here and now, right, Yuka-tan? I mean, you say it all the time—"You gotta look forward!""

Yukari looked at Junpei straight in the eyes, "I... I... want to go back. To the time before the last battle... When I thought about how he protected us, I kept telling myself that I have to keep looking forward... That's why I started going to cram school, and spending less time goofing off. But... I can't lie to myself. If there's a way for him to come back... I'll take it, no matter what."

And that was her decision.

"Yukari..." said Mitsuru as she looked at the determined Yukari.

"So... you're giving up? Are you saying you don't have the strength to face reality? After all the things we've gone through, you're just gonna throw in the towel in the fight against yourself?" asked Akihiko.

Yukari started becoming frustrated and raised her tone of voice at Akihiko, " Oh yeah, you're really one to be throwing around all those high-minded ideals! If you really thought something was that precious to you, you'd want to protect it no matter what. Don't you understand? We can go back and fix things! Are you seriously just gonna let a chance like this go?"

"Then I'll ask you this... If I said I wanted you to undo your father's death, would you do it? Even if there was a way to reverse Shinji and Miki's death, I'd flat-out refuse. Nothing in the past was a waste... You're just making excuses," replied Akihiko, calmly.

Yukari, after hearing that, decided to remain silent for the time being.

"Hey... you keep mentioning 'death'... Are you saying the person who saved you all didn't just... leave?" asked Hikari who was clueless about Minato.

"That's correct... He passed away," replied Mitsuru with a nod.

"What...? Why didn't you tell me before...?"

"Why...? But... you've never met him…"

"What do the rest of you think…?" asked Aigis, trying to lighten up the situation.

"I dunno... I get second thought when I think about going back to when Chidori died... But I definitely see what Akihiko-senpai is tryin' to say. When you get down to it, though... I hate to say this, but I'm just too scared to do that battle over," replied Junpei.

Suddenly, with Yukari's sudden 'mood swings', she stood up angrily and yelled at Junpei, "What's wrong with you? Are you saying you're scared to die, but it's okay if he does?"

Junpei stood up and yelled back at her, "That's not what I said! I mean, have you really thought this through? Going back to before that battle means we'd have to fight Nyx again! Did you ever think about what might happen if we lose this time?"

"It's the same thing! Either way, all it means is that you're just scared!" Then Yukari glared at Akihiko and Ken, "...And you two are no better. All that talk about accepting the present is because when you get down to it, you only care about yourselves!"

"What?" exclaimed Akihiko.

"How can you say that?" exclaimed Ken.

Yukari sighed, "There's no use going around and around like this. We're never gonna reach an agreement. So if no one gives in..." she then chuckled a bit, "We'll have to settle this 'another' way."

"Another way...? Yukari-chan... you don't mean-?" Fuuka exclaimed, getting worried.

"That's exactly what I mean, Fuuka. Taking the keys by force... That'll work too, right? I, as leader, propose that," Yukari smiled at Fuuka.

Fuuka was shocked after seeing how Yukari acted. She looked like as if an evil spirit has possessed her, since she smiled after proposing to fight against each other.

"It's true that the eight keys will merge if they're brought together... even against their holders' wishes…" Hikari then looked at Yukari, "But if it comes to a fight... I'll protect my sister with everything I have. These keys represent each of your strength of heart... If you take my sister's... she may lose her life."

"Hi…kari," said Yukari softly.

"What do you mean?" asked Mitsuru.

"You're only thinking of what's best for you... The person with my sister's power died of unknown causes, didn't he? Did any of you ever stop to think that maybe the same thing could happen to her! I came to protect her... but I... I won't make another mistake. I'll do whatever it takes to save her!" exclaimed Hikari.

"Hikari-san…"

"That's right… Aigis-san, which door are you thinking about unlocking? You haven't given your answer…" said Ken.

"W-Well… I can't decide right now which is more important, the past or the present… so…"

Before Aigis could continue, Yukari cut in, "So you're just gonna run away? Again? Just like the day we said our farewells to him, and you were the only one who didn't show up. We all know you've been with him the longest that year but here you are, indecisive. I'm glad that I've actually gotten to hear his final words and inherit his power and all but still, I will never lose to the likes of you, Aigis," she glared at Aigis as her arrogant attitude took over her.

Aigis just looked at her with sad eyes after hearing all those words coming out from Yukari's mouth.

"Y-Yukari-chan... Are you really going to fight...?" said Fuuka.

"This decision hinges upon someone precious to us all... Our differences can't be settled with a compromise. No matter what Yukari decides... we have no choice but to fight. And I've... made my decision as well. I'm going to stand with her," said Mitsuru while smiling at Yukari.

"Senpai..."

"You're taking her side...? Are you serious? ... Heh... I know you well enough to tell your mind's made up. All right," Akihiko nodded.

"…? No, everyone, please don't!" exclaimed Aigis.

"...It's decided, then. Follow me... I'll lead you to a place suitable for battle. If we fight there... no one can appeal the result," said Hikari as she walked towards the entrance of the Desert of Doors.

Yukari just continued smiling as everyone went to the Desert of Doors to see where they will be fighting…

The friendship has been split… will Yukari be able to succeed in going to the past? Or fail and move on with the life she has now? Find out next!

* * *

Author's note:

I think I made Yukari evil in this Act… ah, forget it. The first bout begins in the next Act! And also, an explanation on what happened to the armor Yukari was supposed to wear! So please don't miss it!


	16. Act 13 5

My gosh… I can't believe it's been a year (or two?) since I last updated this almost-dead story! But now, I FINALLY (yes, FINALLY) bring to you the third .5 Act of the whole 'series'! The continuation since the last one… I really apologize for not being able to update at all… school's cramming up on me, so yeah. At any rate, do enjoy this short chapter of mine!

Disclaimer: Been seeing these 'Disclaimer' stuff, so… Persona 3 FES does not belong to me. If it did belong to me, I'll so make the main character Yukari rather than Aigis. XD

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 13.5: Reminiscence

Yukari stood outside of her beloved Minato's room, a hand placed on the door of his room. She stared at the door with loneliness enveloping her every single second she was there.

"Hey Minato-kun…" she smiled wryly, "… There's a fight going on between all of us… and it's all my fault…" she looked down, "Why…" tears started rolling down her cheeks, "… Why did you choose me to wield your power…? While knowing I have a weak heart… why…?"

"It's because he thinks you're worthy… and he trusts you the most. So that's why he chose you, Yukari. He knows you wouldn't disappoint him."

Yukari looked back with a shocked expression on her face, "M-Mitsuru… senpai…?"

Mitsuru put a hand on Yukari's shoulder and smiled warmly at her, "It's not your fault that we all are going to fight against each other… it's just that… everyone has different opinions about what they want to do with the keys. Though I on the other hand, share the same opinion as you, Yukari."

"You're just saying that to cheer me up, Senpai…" Yukari chuckled sorrowfully, "… At any rate… we're fighting in pairs, so… I suppose your partner is—"

"Mitsuru-san, I am fully—"

Before Yukari could continue, Aigis came, along with Hikari who followed from behind to check up on Yukari. Aigis looked a bit different this time. She was equipped with new armor modules and had a different 'Aigis feeling' from the look in her eyes.

It was as if she was actually glaring at Yukari.

"… Yukari… san."

"Oh Aigis…" Yukari wiped her remaining tears away with her finger and smirked tauntingly, "… You seem determined. You think you can beat me and get the keys to do whatever you want?"

Aigis nodded firmly, "Yes, Yukari-san."

Yukari flinged Mitsuru's hand off her shoulder and looked at Mitsuru with a serious look in her eyes, "Mitsuru-senpai, be partners with Aigis. She obviously need you more than me. I have Hikari after all."

Mitsuru nodded solemnly, "… I… I understand. Do take care of yourself then, Yukari," she turned to Hikari, "You too."

Hikari just nodded coldly as Aigis and Mitsuru went to the stairs.

"Y-Yukari-cha—"

The good-hearted mediator for SEES could not continue her sentence as she saw Aigis and Mitsuru going down the stairs without a word… her heart was breaking into pieces when she saw that. But, she quickly went to where Yukari and Hikari were.

"… Yukari-chan… p-please stop this…!" Fuuka exclaimed worriedly.

"Sorry Fuuka but… I don't think anyone would change their decision on fighting anymore. They're too determined to get what they want," said Yukari plainly, "You're the mediator for everyone, right? You'd better get ready yourself."

Fuuka bit her lips and looked at the floor after hearing what Yukari had told her.

"Shall we leave, sis?" asked Hikari who put on her mask.

"Yeah. Let's get going."

Yukari walked past Fuuka, leaving her with one more sentence, "If you've decided to help only one team, choose the team whose ideals you think are right," Yukari went to the stairs followed by Hikari, "See ya, Fuuka."

Yukari and Aigis both went downstairs as Fuuka continued standing in front of Minato's room dumbfounded.

Downstairs, before leaving for the battle arena, 'Colosseo Purgatorio'…

"Sis."

"Hmm?" Yukari looked back at Hikari, only to be given a bracelet.

"I know that you may not like the armor, so I made this while we were resting after our journey throughout the 'Desert of Doors'. It has a portable holographic shield that can block almost anything as well as a sword. But I have yet to install an interchange system… so you can only use one at a time," Hikari explained.

"Ah… no wonder the armor was missing when I was looking for it. You practically dissembled the whole thing and made this right?" said Yukari who was holding the bracelet in her hand.

Hikari nodded and Yukari felt that she was blushing even though her mask was in the way.

Yukari put on the bracelet on her right wrist and patted Hikari's head, "Thanks Hikari… I owe you big time," she gave Hikari a warm smile.

"A-Anytime… s-sis… I'll do anything for you…"

"Right then…" Yukari turned to the direction of the underground stairs leading to the 'Desert of Doors', "Let's show them how strong our beliefs are."

"Y-Yes… Sis…!"

The heart-shattering battle finally begins! What will the outcome of the waves of battles be? Who will reign and claim the keys for themselves? Find out in the next Act!

* * *

Author's note:

And finally~ I updated… though this may not be enough for those who've wanted lots more from this story… (Especially you, Seph10-san! Thanks for giving me back my 'Author pawaa' and motivating me into actually continuing my fanfics!)… Well, please R & R and I feel that my writing has turned crappier as time goes by… hope you can forgive that though! Will try to upload a new Act as soon as possible! (Seph10-san, motivate me more so that I may write! XD)


	17. Act 14

Long time no see aye? Here's a 4 chapter combo for all of my Ep Yukari followers out there! Sorry for the long wait!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own anything in Persona 3 FES. ATLUS does. :)

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 14: Bout I, Akihiko and Ken

Yukari and Hikari walk out of a big door and looks around in astonishment. It was a large, round arena that looks like a clock without the hands which was dimly lit.

"This..." Yukari broke the silence, "This is where you awakened...?"

The question was obviously directed to Hikari but she didn't answer and looked on cautiously as two silhouettes walk out of the opposite door. The two groups then approached each other at the center.

" Heh I gotta admit..." Akihiko repeatedly punched his right hand as if he was ready for a fight, "This is a pretty appropriate place to settle stuff like this."

Yukari stayed silent and clenched her fist lightly as her senior continued, "I was hoping to go up against Mitsuru's team first, but... Oh well," he said with a disappointed tone of voice which tried to intimidate Yukari.

Suddenly, a voice from behind Yukari called out to the both of them.

"Yukari-chan! Akihiko-senpai!"

It was Fuuka.

"Fuuka-san..." Ken said softly.

"Do you object to her acting as the mediator, and backing up both sides?" asked Hikari with a glare to the opposite group.

"No! You can't make such a decision like that without me! Helping both sides, encouraging my friends to fight each other... I won't do such a thing!" the sky blue-haired girl shook her head as she put her hands together in front of her chest.

"But with your ability—"

"There's no need to worry about us when we're about to go at it. If you can't choose, side with Takeba. Her life could be at risk, right? So it's only fair that she gets a handicap with you," Akihiko smiled.

"Akihiko-senpai…" Fuuka looked at her senior, surprised.

"Well now…" he tightened his glove, "Let's get this over with."

"Yukari-san... are you sure you want to go back to the past?" Ken asked once more as he held on tightly to his spear.

Yukari nodded determinedly, "Yeah, and so I won't lose here... no matter what, I have to win this."

Akihiko was amused and laughed, "Great determination you have there! Looks like this is going to be fun!"

Yukari pictured the gunblade in her mind and summoned it. This time, she didn't want to use her reliable bow and arrow. She decided to hone her skills with the sword throughout the whole battle and the battles to come. She knew that she most likely would need to use her swordsmanship sometime soon and should not just rely on her skills with the bow and arrows.

"We'll see whose will is stronger!" Akihiko shouted at Yukari before charging at her.

Yukari swiftly evaded the punches he tried to inflict to her before she slashed him but he successfully evaded by jumping away.

"If you don't take this seriously... You'll be hurt," Ken ran towards Yukari with the sharp end of his spear pointing at Yukari until Hikari went in front of him and blocked him with her dual-edged light sabres.

"I won't let you hurt my sister!" She pushed him back and went offensive by charging at him with a flash of slashes.

Ken was pushed back till the point he was thrown into mid-air and fell to the ground, "Y-You're strong… as expected…"

On Yukari and Akihiko's side, she was trying to adapt to using a sword and kept getting hit by a flurry of punches by Akihiko after she got too tired by just evading him but likewise, Akihiko was injured by a few successful slashes she managed to make.

"Hmph... That was nothing," he wiped his sweat that was dripping down his eyes, "… Are you sure you wanna take the risk and use your sword now?"

"Oh? You're worried? How 'seniorly' of you to do so…" She was respiring heavily and changed her sword into a gun, "… I may not be the best at swords but I definitely can do wonders when it comes to sharpshooting!"

She shot at him and the bullets was so close to his cheeks that in managed to cause a cut and bled.

"Tch... Not bad... But I'm not going down!" He went again at Yukari in anger, "This time…" he shot at his head with his evoker, "Persona!" Caesar used the Ziodyne skill at Yukari and she cried out in pain as she was weak against electricity. She was knocked down to the ground, slowly got up but Akihiko was too fast and punched her repeatedly before she held on tightly to her gunblade and slashed his abdomen.

Akihiko stopped and hugged onto his abdomen, grinning in pain as Yukari herself slowly got back onto her two feet, "Rrgh... I'm not through yet. Let's see how much power you really have," he said but he knew he was at his limits already, his legs were getting all wobbly and he wasn't able to simply just charge at Yukari just like that.

Back to Hikari and Ken, Ken was already severely injured and he was out of strength to use his Persona. And so he just laid on the floor with a wry smile on his face.

"… Too tired… You win Hikari-san… finish me off…"

Hikari coldly chopped his neck with her hand and knocked him out instead of really killing him as she knew her sister wouldn't want her friends to die just because of this. When she turned to Yukari, she was already finished after shooting Akihiko in the chest emotionlessly with her bangs covering her eyes.

The losing group was then turned into two balls of light and are suddenly transported to two torches, which get lit upon their arrival.

"They're gone…? What just happened, Hikari?" Yukari asked calmly.

"I told you before... If they lose, there will be consequences. They haven't died. But... they won't return to their original forms until the true key is formed. You can no longer avoid fighting..." Hikari explained.

"No..." Fuuka covered her mouth, tears slowly flowing out of her mouth.

"Looks like this just gives me a reason to keep up the fight until all this ends huh…" Yukari smiled sorrowfully.

"Y-Yukari-chan…! But…!" Fuuka wanted to stop Yukari but it was impossible at this time.

"Though… if the fires burn out, they won't be able to return to normal even if the key is forged. ...We need to hurry, Sister," Hikari urged her sister.

"Of course… I don't wanna do this for long… it's heart wrenching for me as well," Yukari walked toward the door enduring all the injuries inflicted onto her.

"No matter what, I will protect you... Sister…" Hikari smiled and went towards the door.

"So… Yukari-chan… you don't want to fight as well…? Looks like… I was wrong to think that you've lost your real self…" Fuuka wiped her tears and slowly walked towards the door.

Going through the door and back to the lounge was somehow able to recover any inflicted wounds and recuperate lost energy from tiredness and so Yukari's group rested at the lounge for a short while before heading out once again to face the next group.

The battle is finally underway as the first bout ends for Yukari and co.. and so to revive her defeated friends, she has no choice but to see the fight through to the end.

* * *

Author's note:

Okay so here is the long awaited continuation of Ep Yukari. Sorry about the long wait… was too busy with other stuff (especially schoolwork… SCHOOLWORK! GRAAH!) and was unable to write anything. And then there's that annoying author's block I have. Ah yeah, but thanks to my good friend at school and Seph10, my will to write's back! So kudos to them!


	18. Act 15

I'm gonna write as much as I can before I return back to my hometown! (Obviously, I'm taking a holiday… skipped a week of school…) I HOPE you all can understand what I'm writing 'cuz I have no clue what I'm writing since my "author's overdrive" skill is in play. XD

Disclaimer: I'm not the owner of this series, the characters etc etc. ATLUS is.

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 15: Bout II, Junpei and Koromaru

… The second bout begins as the battles continue.

This time, Junpei and Koromaru are waiting in the arena as Yukari, Hikari and Fuuka approach them.

"...'Sup?" greeted Junpei with one hand in his pocket and one hand holding onto his sword.

Koromaru whimpered not in fear, but in worry and it was sad that this is happening to all of them.

"Hey Junpei," Yukari greeted back.

"Junpei-kun...! Koro-chan...!" Fuuka called out to them.

"Well... I guess I can see what's going on," Junpei sighed.

"No matter who our opponent is, I won't let them have my Sister's... key," Hikari was high on her guard.

"Heh, I know, I know. It's cool," Junpei smiled wryly, "But y'know, no matter which way this turns out... Even if we go back to before the final battle, if we're still squabbling like this... I dunno, do you really see us being able to pull off a miracle and do things better than he could?" Junpei scratched the back of his head before continuing, "Me, I think this is somethin' we've gotta take care of on our own."

"Junpei-kun..." Fuuka was quite surprised by Junpei's opinion. He wasn't the type who would take things seriously but now, she thought wrong.

"I'm not as much of a hardass as Akihiko-san, but... I don't think we should mess with the past. Still, some things you just can't work out by talking about 'em. If neither side will give an inch, well, sometimes that's how things are gonna be. Right, Yuka-tan?" Junpei looked straight at Yukari which startled her slightly.

She chuckled, "Yeah. Y'know? I never knew you could sound so mature when the time comes. I'm happy for you, really. Looks like all we can do right now is fight it out and see how destiny plays huh…" Yukari summoned her gunblade and pointed it at Junpei.

"Sister…"

"Junpei-san..."

"All righty then..." Junpei lifted his sword and readied his stance, "Let's get it on! You better not throw this fight!"

"Likewise, Stupei!" Yukari grinned as she charged at him.

"Don't call me that, Yuka-tan!"

Their swords clashed and sparks fluttered out of their blades and both jumped away before both went at it again.

Koromaru jumped and swirled at Hikari with a knife in its mouth but all Hikari did was evaded and when there was an opening, she slashed it without thinking twice. Koromaru, in pain, went ahead and howled to summon his Persona to hurt her but she was too fast, she was on Orgia mode.

"I'll end everything before my Orgia mode finishes!" Hikari yelled out.

Back to Yukari and Junpei, it was practically a sword fight between the two and because he was weak to Wind skills, Yukari took the chance to utilize her Persona to the max until Junpei was almost out of strength.

"Dude, you're pretty tough, Yuka-tan… I never thought… I'd be on the receiving end of your sword… I mean, you don't usually use one…"

Junpei covered his mouth with a free hand and coughed and saw blood on his hand.

"Junpei are you—"Yukari stopped and shook her head. She shouldn't sympathize with her injured friend at a time like this, she had to win. She NEEDS to win.

Junpei stood up, using his sword as a support to keep him standing and grinned weakly, "T-This ain't good… hey Yuka-tan… keep holding onto your ideals if you wanna win… I don't think I can continue this fight anymore… you owned me good…"

"Junpei…" Yukari switched her blade to a gun and went slowly towards the injured Junpei.

"… Good luck, Yuka-tan…" He closed his eyes and knelt on the ground, still holding onto his sword with a smile.

Yukari pointed her gun right on Junpei's head as his cap fell off and pulled the trigger and he turned into a ball of light and vanished into the torches, along with another ball of light, that was most likely Koromaru's. Hikari knelt on the ground, 'overheated'.

"Junpei-kun... Koro-chan..." Fuuka covered her face with her hands.

"A bit more… huh…"

Hikari was able to speak while recovering from her 'overheat', "The next battle will be the last one... If we win... there will be no one left who can take your key."

"Win huh… to be honest, this whole battle for the true key… Does it really justify hurting the ones who are precious to you?" Yukari looked at her hand in sorrow, Hikari on the other hand, was silent.

"I wonder what Aigis has in her head though… I'm curious to know…"

"S-Sister…" Hikari stood up, "I-I… I have something to tell you!"

Yukari looked at her with sorrowful eyes, "What is it…?"

"I... had a premonition! I wasn't hiding who I am... I really don't know anything about myself. About a month ago, I woke up here all alone..." she looked down, "You asked me about when I discovered my emotions, but I don't have any memories... I only knew two things when I woke up. First, that I had a sister somewhere in the world who understood me... And second... a strong premonition that if I didn't do something, that sister would die soon. At first, I thought it would happen because of the Abyss of Time. But that wasn't it... I understand now..."

She stopped and looked straight into Yukari's eyes, as if she was really concerned, "The power you've gained comes at the cost of your death...!"

"The cost of my death... The answer... to _his_ death..." She realized something and just smiled sorrowfully.

Everything's about the word, _death_.

"I went to see you so I could save you, but I ended up causing the power to awaken... That's why I made up my mind. I'd do anything to protect you. You're all I have in the world... so I'm… I'm sorry Sister… for not telling you earlier…"

"Hikari…" Fuuka listened to everything Hikari explained and felt sorry for her.

"What are you apologizing for, Hikari…?" she went to where Hikari is and patted her head, "We're in this together. I really don't want to do this but… we have no choice now right…? Let's just see this through till the end, okay?"

Hikari starts sobbing, "P-Please don't leave me behind!"

"Hikari..." Yukari embraces Hikari tightly, "Don't worry... I won't leave you."

Hikari, in Yukari arms, continues sobbing and nodded solemnly.

"I know… Because our bonds are so strong, there's no solution to this where no one gets hurt... There's no easy way out. We just have to see this till the end… I'm sure everything will be fine in the end…" Yukari looked at Fuuka while hugging Hikari, "Fuuka, you've been looking on through all the battles so far… you okay?"

"Y-Yes Yukari-chan. I'm fine. A little bit more right?" Fuuka said, smiling wryly.

"Yeah, a little more… a little more till this nightmare ends…" Yukari looked at the ceiling.

"_Aigis… Mitsuru-senpai… get ready 'cause I'm not gonna hold back."_

One more bout to end the heart wrenching battles between close friends. The willpower of both groups… whose is stronger in the end?

* * *

Author's note:

Sitting in the coach for 7 hours can really make me write stories. But not in good quality since I'm drowsy… really tired… Anyways! Thanks for reading! R&R as usual kay?


	19. Act 16

I hope to finish this story before the year ends so I can focus and continue on another one which is in the K-ON! category in Anime. Of course, I'll try finishing the rest of my P3 related projects sometime soon as well, so please support me all the way!:)

Disclaimer: I… ugh you know what goes here.

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 16: The Final Bout – Aigis and Mitsuru

Finally, the end to the battles are at its end as the remaining combatants meet in the arena.

"Aigis... Mitsuru-senpai…" Fuuka said after seeing the last group appear before them.

Yukari chuckled, "It's strange... I kinda want to say "long time no see" to you two."

"Yukari-chan..."

Aigis stayed silent and Mitsuru just looked at Yukari with a tint of sadness and concern for her junior.

"There are four lit flames... This battle will determine which side gains the true key... I may share the same opinion as you do, Yukari… but I won't allow you to get our keys as simple as that. You understand right? We need to carry out what we should be doing so it'll be fair. After all, Aigis has told me her opinion of everything."

"Yes... I've made my decision. I know what I want to do. There was something crucial that I hadn't known... But I realized it after a while… To care about someone dear to you, to strengthen the bonds of friendship... That doesn't necessarily mean that the pain of living will stop," Aigis said with a face filled with determination.

"Aigis…" said Fuuka softly.

Aigis readied her weapons while continuing, "If something's precious, you don't want to lose it... If someone's dear, it's painful to part with them... Loss can hurt, but... I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I, too, have something important... That's why I'm willing to fight you now, Yukari-san," She pointed her hands (which are guns) at Yukari.

"Aigis..." Mitsuru smiled.

Yukari chuckled once again, "You sound like you're back to your usual self again. Y'know, I have to say, you've got more life in you than ever. Did you go on a life journey through telling stories with Mitsuru-senpai while she advises you or something?" Yukari summoned her sword, "All the same... I can't give in, either. I'm not gonna lose this battle... no matter what!"

"Yukari-san…" Aigis nodded, "I… I won't take this fight lightly either!"

"Yukari…" Mitsuru readied her battle stance with her rapier, "Show me… your resolve!"

"Hikari! You take on Mitsuru-senpai! Aigis and I have serious business that needs taking care of between the both of us!" Yukari then went ahead and dashed towards Aigis, pulling her evoker's trigger below her chin and randomly shooting her "Garudyne" skills at Aigis, as if she was just playing with her.

"Yukari-san…! I… I…!" Aigis turned on her Orgia mode and charged at Yukari as well.

"Get ready, cause I'm gonna tear you apart, Aigis!" She started hacking and slashing Aigis and chasing her around as she swiftly evaded Yukari's random attacks.

It was like she wasn't focusing anymore.

"I won't hold back!" Mitsuru shot herself with her evoker and utilized her strong magic attacks at Hikari and Hikari herself was finding difficulty in fighting Mitsuru.

"What's the matter? Is that all you've got?" Yukari shot at Aigis with her gun blade's gun form and it was able to scrape her, slightly.

"Yukari-san… y-you don't want to fight… right? That's what you really feel right? You're putting up a strong front because you want your ideals to be realized right…?" Aigis asked while returning a volley of attacks before 'overheating'.

"S-Shut up… y-you don't… understand… I'm doing all this for him… I…" She started to shudder.

"I understand how you feel Yukari-san… that's why… I can let you win. If you want…" Aigis smiled.

"Hah. Where did all that determination go? Weren't you all serious and determined to defeat me? So shouldn't you take this a little bit seriously? You haven't even managed to score a hit on me!" Yukari pointed the sharp point of her sword directly in front of Aigis' face as she was kneeling down due to her 'overheating'.

"… Yukari-san… do you… hate me…?"

"Huh?

"Your tone of voice… the way you talk to me… it's as if you resent me… you didn't treat me this way when we had a talk at the mall that time… what have I done to make you hate me…?"

Yukari stayed silent and pulled her sword away from Aigis, "… Minato-kun… you were always with him… We may have dated and all but… to be honest… I'm jealous of you in some way…"

Aigis looked at Yukari with confused eyes.

"Power… I lacked the power to protect him. And yet you… you were able to at times when he really needs it. You and him shared a bond that… that somehow… I can never be able to share with him… Truthfully, you're the last one to see him alive… I just walked into his room in depression and by chance, he was still okay… it's all… by chance…" Yukari explained, tears slowly falling.

"But then… you obtained his power… that means, he trusts you the most! If he didn't think of you in a special way… he wouldn't have given you his power… there has to be a reason why he did so. And I'm sure that reason is because he knows you're the one who can end all this. He had a presentiment that all this would happen… somehow…" Aigis said, trying to cheer Yukari up.

Yukari chuckled and covered her eyes with a free hand, "… You're really something, Aigis… thanks for cheering me up…" She then put her hand down and reached out to Aigis, "… And I don't hate you… really," she smiled.

"Yukari-san…"

As Aigis was about to reach out to her, one of Hikari's light sabre's went straight through her from one side to another and she turned into a ball of light like the others and teleported to the last torch as Mitsuru was defeated and teleported there already.

Yukari, shocked, had her eyes wide opened before turning to Hikari who ran to where she was standing.

"Sister! Are you ok—"

"… I'm fine," She didn't look at her and walked towards Fuuka as Fuuka herself was walking towards Yukari.

"Take mine too, Yukari-chan…" Fuuka handed over her key to Yukari with a wry smile.

Suddenly, the key starts glowing, along with the torches. And a while later, a single key floats towards Yukari. The keys must have combined with each other to form one 'true key'.

"So this is what we've been fighting each other for… The true key…" Yukari dropped her weapon and used both her hands to hold onto the key, "… It's… warm…"

At last the winner has been chosen. And now, for the long awaited decision. What will it be?

* * *

Author's notes:

Phew… I'm done with Act 16! It was kinda rushed and somewhat feels off... as you can tell… anyways, hope you all liked it and please R&R!


	20. Act 17

This Act was accidentally combined with Act 16 before I checked my "Planned Act" list so yeah, I split them and I bring you Act 17! Yeah, written 4 new chapters in one day is mind killing, seriously…

Disclaimer: ATLUS. IS. THE. OWNER. :)

* * *

**Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari**

Act 17: The True Key And The Decision Made

The torches released everyone shortly after and they radiated in a bright light before returning to normal.

"Everyone!" Fuuka happily rushed to where everyone is and asked if they were okay.

Yukari laughed briefly, "It may sound strange to hear, but... I'm so glad that you're all safe…"

"Yukari… you…" Mitsuru was surprised at her junior's sudden change of mood.

"So… we're going to have to listen to Yuka-tan huh?" Junpei said as he shrugged.

Akihiko nodded, "And what's your final decision Takeba?"

"… I made a promise to him… I promised that I'd try my best to change this world, so that people would stop wishing for the Fall... It was a promise I made to him while I was holding his cold hand... That's why I decided to put the past behind me, and look forward… and that's why…" Yukari bit her lips before continuing, controlling herself from bursting out in tears again, "… I wanna see him... I don't care about anything else! I just wanna see him again!" She knelt down slowly, tears rolling down slowly from her eyes and held tightly onto the key she had in her hand.

"Yukari-san..." said Aigis softly.

Mitsuru knelt down at where Yukari is and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yukari... There's no way to truly put the past behind you. In the end, you only succeed in running from it. It's painful to face, but if you don't, your wounds will never heal."

"So if I keep facing it, someday everything will be okay? Eventually I'll forget all about him, or stop caring? Like that's ever going to happen! No one knows that better than us!" Yukari retaliated on her senior's statement.

"...You're right… but... can't we be there for you, when things are at their worst? ...The way you were there for me last year?" Mitsuru smiled wryly.

Yukari silently looked at Mitsuru, with a confused look on her face.

"That may not have been what you meant at the time... But even now, I consider you being at my side last year as one of the most cherished moments of my life," Mitsuru smiled warmly now, "That's why... when we lost him without being able to thank him, I swore deep down... If something ever happened to make you suffer, I'd put my own feelings aside and stand with you," Mitsuru chuckled softly, "Though… this time is an exception… because Aigis didn't have a partner."

The brunette was touched by her senior's words. She was happy to hear all that but was unable to express it on her face, "Mitsuru… senpai…"

Mitsuru continued, "Yukari... To lose someone you had such a strong bond with is agony. But there's no need to suffer alone. You have us with you. Isn't that the whole point of forming such bonds?"

She wasn't able to reply her and sobbed. Aigis went ahead and knelt down with the two.

"Yukari-san... I understand your feelings. Ever since I was born, I have spent all my time thinking about him… so… I suggest we see it. To find out once and for all... what he left for us. We still don't know the real reason behind his death after all… Don't we all want to see the truth of what happened... the moment he used his power?" Aigis expressed her opinion and Yukari looked at her, surprised.

She had no idea that the android had the same opinion with her all this time. But Aigis, being Aigis, acted determined with an opinion that made Yukari think that it was opposite of hers in order for Yukari to want to defeat her. And end this silly battle. It was reverse psychology.

"Huh…? Can we really do that?" Junpei asked, not believing that Aigis really meant it. He thought that she was just trying to sympathize with the brunette.

Aigis believed strongly that they were able to do so, "I don't see why not. We've already experienced the past here many times."

"You mean those doors that lead to the past? But they all disappeared... There aren't any left. The only way back to the past is the door to his room... and we know we don't want to use the key on that," Akihiko crossed his arms.

"No…" Fuuka suddenly voiced out, "There's one more door!"

Mitsuru stands up with a face as if she's come to a realization, "That's right! The door that leads to Paulownia Mall…!"

Yukari stands up wiping the leftover tears residue on both her eyes, "… The doors reflect the minds of those who enter them... If our wish is strong enough, we should be able to use that door to look into the past."

"I see... alright then," Mitsuru looked at Yukari, her mouth slowing forming into a smile, "How about it, everyone?" She turned to everyone.

"Sounds like it's worth a try." Akihiko grinned.

Hikari starts backing away from the group for some reasons and it caught Aigis' eyes.

"… What's wrong? Hikari-san?"

Her masked covered her face, "I was just thinking... There's nothing left for me to do. And… I'm sure none of you would want me along... I did some horrible things to you…"

"Dude, what're you talking about? We all got ourselves into this mess! You don't have to be so hard on yourself," Junpei tried to cheer her up.

"Hey Hikari… Don't you remember? I told you that I wouldn't leave you behind… and I don't plan on backing down on my words," Yukari smiled at Hikari and the latter ran right up to her like a kid who thought that her mother was going to scold her, but it turned out that the mother wanted to cheer her up.

"Geez... If you'd been like that from the start, things would've been a lot smoother," Akihiko sighed.

Ken entered the conversation, "Still, we're pretty lucky there's one door left. It's a real lifesaver, huh?"

Hikari was stirred in her mind, there was something wrong, "... Now that you mention it... That is strange... Once a door's purpose has been fulfilled, it disappears... If that door's purpose is to prepare for battle, it should have vanished once the battles were over. Our fight afterward was just bickering between ourselves."

Mitsuru crossed her arms and was deep in thought as she cupped her chin, "… There's only one logical conclusion. If that door's role is to allow us to prepare for battle, and it hasn't yet disappeared... Doesn't it follow... that there's still an enemy left to defeat? Our feelings are the reason for all of this... And what both Yukari and Aigis proposed relates directly to the core of our pain. We should probably expect to encounter something unknown.

Yukari was silent and looked at Aigis who in turn did the same.

"Then... what now? Sh-Should we... find another plan?" Hikari was trying her best to blend in.

"If we base our next plan on what Mitsuru-senpai says… we have to go check to confirm if it's okay to go with it. Right?" Yukari walked towards the door out of the arena.

Only one door remains...

They decided to head for the door leading to the past Paulownia Mall. And as everyone is in front of the door, Yukari opens it and everyone entered the Desert of Doors, except that there is an extra black door in the center this time.

"This… is another door…!" Yukari was as surprised as everyone else.

Hikari continued, "This was never here before..."

Mitsuru nodded as if she understood everything, "I see the ordeal awaiting us was no mere speculation... We should come back here once we've taken all possible measures before confronting it."

"Heh, fine with me. No matter what the truth is... We'll finally get to see it with our own eyes," Akihiko tightened his glove with a leer on his face.

"Well then. Let's get ready before returning back here, everyone…" Yukari urged and they all nodded before leaving to prepare for the ordeal to come.

The door that appeared in the Desert of Doors leads to the final ordeal…

At long last, the answers they've sought for so long wait beyond…

What awaits them beyond the door? Only destiny will tell…

* * *

Author's notes:

Hey everyone! Please R&R and I'll try my best to get Act 18 done ASAP on my end! Thanks for reading and your support!


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